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A    COLLECTION 


POLITICAL    WRITINGS 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT, 


SELECTED  AND  ARRANGED, 

WITH    A    PREFACE, 

B  Y 

THEODORE   SEDGWICK,  JR 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES. 
VOL.    I. 


N E  W -  Y  O  RK  : 

TAYLOR    &    DODD. 
1840. 


£5 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839, 

BY  W.  C.  BRYANT, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  for  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


H.    LUDWIG,  PRINTER, 

72,  Vesey-street,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE 


IN  preparing  for  the  press  a  selection  of  the  wri 
tings  of  WILLIAM  LEGGETT  it  is  proper  to  state  the 
precise  object  which  has  been  had  in  view.  The 
wish  of  his  friends  is  tore-publish  such  of  his  writings 
as  will  give  a  true  picture  of  the  mind  and  character  of 
the  man  whom  they  so  much  lament ;  and  in  dis 
charging  the  duty  confided  to  me  I  have  endeavour 
ed  faithfully  to  carry  out  this  idea.  To  do  this, 
however,  it  has  not  been  thought  necessary  or  desira 
ble  to  revive  and  perpetuate  the  temporary  controver 
sies,  in  which  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  becomes 
almost  inevitably  entangled  ;  and  therefore,  although 
many  of  the  pieces  of  this  class  were,  at  the  time  they 
appeared,  among  those  which  attracted  the  most  at 
tention,  they  have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  excluded 
from  these  volumes. 

But  beyond  this  I  have  omitted  nothing  on  account 
of  its  peculiar  character,  and  have  re-published  all 
those  articles  from  the  PLAINDEALER,  and  EVENING 
POST  while  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Leggett, 
which  will  give  the  most  vivid  idea  of  the  vigour  of  his 
style,  the  originality  of  his  mind,  and  the  force  and 
independence  of  his  character. 


itf    "  ".   \P'R  E  F  A  C  E  . 

I  have  excluded  nothing  merely  for  the  reason  of 
its  being  contrary  to  the  prevailing  or  popular  opinion, 
and  on  the  subject  of  Slavery  I  have  inserted  many 
articles  which  go  far  beyond  the  tone  of  either  of  the 
great  political  parties  of  this  day. 

It  will  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Editor 
of  this  publication,  or  the  friends  who  have  sanction 
ed  it,  adhere  to  the  views  expressed  upon  all  the  con 
troverted  topics  which  these  pages  contain.  Many  of 
those  most  attached  to  Mr.  Leggett,  and  most  devoted 
to  the  leading  doctrines  of  his  political  faith,  were  at 
the  same  time  the  most  opposed  to  the  course  pursued 
by  him  on  particular  subjects.  But  I  have  not  thought 
myself  at  liberty  to  omit  any  arlicles  for  this  reason. 
The  effect  of  suppression  would  be  to  give  a  very 
imperfect  idea  of  the  mind  and  character  of  Mr.  Leg 
gett  ;  and  to  suppress  them  from  any  apprehension 
of  injuring  the  sale  or  circulation  of  the  work,  would 
be  a  subserviency  to  popular  prejudice,  which  the 
author,  of  all  men,  would  have  been  the  last  to 
permit. 

In  this  collection,  therefore,  I  have  endeavoured  to 
embody  such  of  his  writings  as  will  serve  to  convey  a 
just  idea  of  the  ability  and  virtues  of  the  author,  and 
perhaps  1  may  be  permitted,  in  a  few  words,  to  point 
out  those  attributes  of  peculiar  merit  to  which  they 
may  justly  lay  claim. 

The  intellect  of  Mr.  Leggett  was  of  a  very  high 
order.  His  education  was  originally,  in  matters  of 
mere  accomplishment,  defective ;  but  perhaps,  in  other 
respects,  it  could  not  have  been  better  calculated  to 
form  the  able  and  intrepid  man,  whose  memory  these 
pages  are  intended  to  perpetuate. 


PREFACE.  V 

Nurtured  in  moderate  circumstances,  unspoiled 
and  unpampered  by  the  seductions  of  affluence,  his 
life  was  one  of  widely  diversified  experience — 
first  a  woodsman  in  the  wilds  of  the  west — next 
wearing  the  uniform  of  the  navy  and  breasting  the 
waves  under  the  constellation  banner — soon  the  vic 
tim  of  a  harsh  if  not  tyrannical  commander,  he  threw 
up  his  commission,  because  his  complaints  were  de 
nied  a  hearing — then  exposed  to  grievous  hardships 
and  to  all  the  temptations  of  a  great  commercial 
metropolis — last  a  leading  partisan  editor — all 
these  chances  and  changes  were  well  fitted  to  make 
a  hardy,  self-relying  man — an  intellectual  athlete. 

But  it  is  not  to  this  education  that  Mr.  Leggett  owed 
his  vigorous  eloquence — his  copious  style — his  close 
logic — his  eminent  powers  of  generalization.  These 
attributes  incontestably  distinguished  him.  His  articles 
are  often  prolix,  often  perhaps  defective  in  other  re 
spects  of  style  ;  but  it  must  be  reflected  that  there  are 
no  circumstances  so  unfavourable  to  composition  as 
those  under  which  an  editor  writes.  The  unavoid 
able  haste — the  eternal  interruptions  and  distractions 
— the  impossibility  of  concentrating  the  mind  on  the 
subject—the  necessity  of  repetition — the  want  of  time 
to  condense  ; — all  these  are  sufficient  reasons  why  the 
Press  has  in  this  country  no  higher  literary  character. 
Bat  all  these  difficulties  were,  in  a  great  degree,  sur 
mounted  by  him  ;  and  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  greater  part  of  his  articles  were  composed  in  the 
back  room  of  a  printing-office,  amid  the  din  of  the  press 
and  the  conversation  of  political  loungers,  it  will  be,  I 
am  persuaded,  thought  remarkable  that  he  overcame 
them  to  so  great  an  extent,  I  do  not  mean  to  over- 


VI  PREFACE. 

rate  the  merit  of  his  writings.  I  am  aware  that  very 
great  deduction  is  to  be  made  for  the  excitement  under 
which  they  were  first  read,  when  they  were  animated 
and  quickened  by  a  deep  interest  in  the  events  with 
which  they  were  connected — that  great  deduction  is 
also  to  be  made  for  the  strong  bias  which  a  similarity 
of  political  sentiments  creates ;  but  I  am  convinced 
that  the  admiration  these  writings  excited  is  no  delu 
sion,  no  mere  temporary  feeling  ;  and  that  the  reputa 
tion  which  Mr.  Leggett  attained,  during  his  short 
career  as  an  editor,  could  not  have  been  acquired  un 
less  his  writings  had  possessed  merits  of  an  abiding 
character.  "What,  then,  was  that  character?  What 
are  the  claims  which  these  productions  present  to  a 
permanent  place  in  our  literature  ? 

The  foundation  of  his  political  system  was  an 
intense  love  of  freedom.  This,  indeed,  was  the  cor 
ner-stone  of  his  intellect  and  his  feelings.  He  ab 
solutely  adored  the  abstract  idea  of  liberty,  and  he 
would  tolerate  no  shackles  on  her  limbs.  Liberty  in 
faith — liberty  in  government—- liberty  in  trade — lib 
erty  of  action  every  way, — these  were  his  fundamen 
tal  tenets — these  the  source  alike  of  his  excellencies 
and  his  defects. 

His  love  of  freedom  made  him  the  warm  and 
constant  advocate  of  universal  suffrage.  He  ever 
looked  coldly  if  not  with  positive  disinclination  upon 
the  different  laws  proposed  for  registering  voters  ;  he 
could  not  endure  the  idea  of  any  impediment  upon  the 
liberty  of  the  citizen,  and  he  preferred  the  evils  which 
resulted  from  a  want  of  registry  to  those  which  he 
feared  might  follow  from  a  system  that  should  impose 
any  restraint  or  qualification  upon  the  right  of  suffrage. 


PREFACE 


Vll 


In  the  same  light  he  looked  upon  every  effort  to 
exclude  foreigners  from  the  polls.     His  love  of  liberty 
was  far  too  catholic  and  comprehensive  to  be  bounded 
by  any  line  of  language  or  birth,  and  he  could  never 
tolerate  the  hostility  often  expressed  to  the  adoption  of 
foreigners  into  our  political  family.     As  to  freedom  of 
trade,  he  was  equally  consistent.     He  from  the  first 
warred  against  the  tariff,  and  a  federal  bank.     He 
was   the   leader  of  those  who  raised  the  standard 
against  the  monopoly  system  of  incorporated  banks  ; 
and  one  of  the  first  to  insist  upon  the  total  disconnec 
tion  of  government  from  its  fiscal  agents.     In  like 
manner,  he  reprobated  all  the  state  inspection  laws, 
and  one  of  his  last  productions  in  the  Plaindealer  is 
~that  in  which  he  advocates  the  idea  of  a  free  trade 
post  office,  or  a  system  by  which  letters  should  be  car 
ried,  as  goods  and  passengers  are  now,  by  private  esta 
blishments.     In  this  respect  the  merits  of  his  writings 
cannot  be  overrated  ;  he  must  ever  be  remembered  as 
one  of  the  most  able  and  consistent  disciples  of  that 
school  of  commercial  freedom  which  is  destined  ulti 
mately  to  bind  the  whole  civilized  world  in  bonds  of 
peace  and  amity— of  that  school  of  political  science 
whose  end  and  aim  are  to  simplify  and  cheapen  the 
operations  of  government. 

His  reading  was  extremely  copious,  and  his  style 
of  the  most  vigorous  and  manly  order.  On  the  topics 
which  excited  him  he  poured  forth  a  flood  of  reason 
ing  or  it  might  be  of  denunciation  and  invective 
which  forced  the  mind  irresistibly  along  and  aroused 
the  most  sluggish  intellect.  His  language  often  rises 
to  a  commanding  eloquence,  and  is  always  earnest, 
impressive  and  powerful. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

I  have  no  desire  or  intention  to  pronounce  a  mere 
eulogy,  an  inconsiderate  and  sweeping  panegyric.  It 
would  be  1  am  convinced,  the  thing  most  repulsive  to 
his  own  feelings.  Mr.  Leggett  had  unquestionably 
defects  in  his  intellectual  organization — he  generalised 
too  much — he  pushed  out  his  theories  without  a  pro 
per  reference  to  the  time  and  means  necessary  to  per 
fect  them,  and  to  persuade  their  adoption — and  what 
was  a  greater  defect  for  one  who  desired  to  lead  the 
public  mind  on  matters  of  daily  and  hourly  import 
ance,  he  was  not  sufficiently  practical,  nor  did  he  listen 
with  sufficient  attention  to  the  suggestions  of  practical 
men.  His  views  when  most  correct,  were  frequently 
urged  with  a  vehemence  and  impetuosity  which  pre 
vented  their  adoption,  and  he  often  in  this  way  dis 
pleased  and  alienated  moderate  men  of  all  parties. 

To  this,  which  might  perhaps  be  termed  an  imprac 
ticability  of  conduct,  are  to  be  ascribed  some  singular 
inconsistencies  of  his  views  on  various  topics.  He 
was  an  author  and  a  consistent  advocate  of  the  right  of 
property  and  of  free  trade.  But  he  at  all  times  opposed 
the  introduction  of  an  international  copyright  law. 
No  one  was  a  more  zealous  and  unflinching  enemy 
of  mobs,  but  he  with  almost  equal  ardor  opposed  the 
passage  of  any  law  granting  indemnity  to  their  victims. 
He  detested  slavery  in  every  shape,  but  he  was  totally 
hostile  to  any  action  of  Congress  on  the  question  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  This  diminished  his  influence 
as  a  party  leader,  for  which  station  indeed  he  was  not 
fitted,  except  in  periods  of  great  excitement  and  vio 
lence. 

He  was  certainly  at  times  deficient  in  forbearance 
towards  his  opponents,  and  indulged  in  a  violence  of 


PREFACE. 


IX 


language  wholly  unjustifiable.  But  in  extenuation 
it  is°to  be  recollected  that  no  writer  connected  with 
the  press,  was  so  unfairly  and  indeed  indecently 
attacked  as  he  was  during  the  time  when  he  had 
charge  of  the  Evening  Post.  It  must  not  be  for 
gotten,  that  he  was  abused  and  calumniated  in  a 
manner  almost  unprecedented,  even  in  the  annals  of 
the  American  press,  and  that  his  errors  in  this  matter, 
were,  to  a  great  extent,  errors  of  retaliation. 

Nothing  could  form  a  greater  contrast  with  the 
vehemence  of  his  writings,  than  the  mildness  and 
courtesy  of  his  social  life.  I  have  repeatedly  wit 
nessed  the  surprise  of  those  who  knew  him  only 
through  the  columns  of  his  paper,  when  accident 
brought  them  personally  in  contact  with  him.  No 
one  more  enjoyed  the  pleasures  of  society — no  one 
allowed  less  of  the  bitterness  of  political  controversy  to 
infuse  itself  into  his  social  relations.  His  naval  edu 
cation,  and  « the  grave  and  wrinkled  purposes  of  his 
life,"  gave  dignity  to  his  manners,  and  he  had  a  soft 
ness  and  delicacy  in  his  character  which  the  acrimony 
of  political  strife  had  no  effect  to  diminish. 

His  style  is  often  diffuse,  and  it  may  occasionally  be 
charged  with  rhetorical  extravagance,  but  to  this  a  suf 
ficient  answer  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
these  writings  are  newspaper  articles  ;  written  under 
the  spur  and  excitement  of  the  hour,  and  often  with  the 
intention  and  under  the  necessity  of  appealing  quite 
as  much  to  the  passions  as  the  judgment.  It  is  an 
unhappy  obligation,  but  one  apparently  imposed  upon 
the  conductors  of  the  press,  that  they  are  compelled  to 
arouse  the  public  mind  and  stimulate  it  to  action  ; 
and  this  is  often  to  be  done  solely  by  infusing  into  the 


X  PREFACE. 

system,  not  the  wholesome  mental  food  of  truth,  but 
the  powerful  and  dangerous  excitants  of  invective  and 
declamation. 

Another  and  one  of  the  highest  attributes  of 
the  author  of  these  works,  was  boldness — cour 
age.  He  had  no  conception  of  what  fear  was; 
physically,  morally  and  intellectually,  he  had  no  idea 
of  the  meaning  of  the  term.  No  personal  danger 
could  appal  him ;  no  theory  did  he  ever  hesitate  to 
adopt  because  it  was  scouted  by  the  prevailing  opinion, 
and  no  cause  did  he  ever  fail  to  espouse  because  it  was 
destitute  of  friends.  When  the  mobs  first  attacked  the 
abolitionists  in  the  city  of  New- York,  he  had  not  made 
the  subject  of  slavery  one  of  very  particular  considera 
tion,  but  he  was  the  earliest  to  denounce  the  popular 
violence,  arid  to  call  upon  the  municipal  government 
to  suppress  it  by  the  most  vigorous  and  effective  wea 
pons.  The  same  course  he  pursued  in  regard  to  the 
Bank.  The  vehemence  of  his  attacks  upon  that  in 
stitution  brought  him  into  direct  and  frequent  collision 
with  members  of  the  mercantile  classes,  but  never  was 
he  deterred  from  this  path  by  any  apprehension  of  in 
jury  to  his  interests.  The  course  pursued  by  the 
paper  (the  Evening  Post,)  during  the  crisis  of  1833 
and  1834,  was  extremely  injurious  to  the  pecuniary 
affairs  of  that  journal  which  had  previously,  by  its 
opposition  to  the  tariff,  made  itself  to  some  extent  a 
favourite  of  the  commercial  community. 

This  same  courage  taking  what  is  perhaps  the 
higher  shape  of  fortitude,  showed  itself  in  a  manner 
equally  remarkable  in  his  private  life.  Amid  the  re 
verses  of  fortune,  when  harrassed  by  pecuniary  em 
barrassments — during  the  tortures  of  a  disease  which 


PREFACE.  XI 

tore  away  his  life  piece-meal,  he  ever  maintained  the 
same  manly  and  unaltered  front — the  same  cheerful 
ness  of  disposition — the  same  dignity  of  conduct.  No 
humiliating  solicitation — no  weak  complaint  for  a 
moment  escaped  him. 

But  the  intellectual  character  of  Mr.  Leggett,  mark 
ed  as  it  was,  was  far  inferior  in  excellence  to  his  moral 
attributes.  It  is  to  these  he  owes  the  respect  and  affec 
tion  in  which  his  memory  is  held — it  is  to  these  that 
the  influence  his  pen  acquired  during  his  life  is  chiefly 
attributable. 

At  the  same  time  it  should  be  said  that  it  is  difficult 
to  distinguish  between  his  intellect  and  his  character. 
They  both  derived  force  and  support  from  each  other, 
and  it  is  not  easy  to  draw  any  dividing  line. 
There  is  nothing  of  that  incongruity  which  history 
exhibits  in  some  of  the  greatest  men  upon  her  page, 
where  extraordinary  mental  power  has  been  unsup 
ported  by  moral  energy. 

His  great  desire  on  all  the  questions  which  agitated 
the  country  appeared  to  be  the  attainment  and  esta 
blishment  of  truth.  The  vehemence  of  his  tempera 
ment  and  the  force  of  his  original  impressions  often 
had  an  obscuring  tendency  upon  his  mind.  But 
against  these  he  was  forever  striving.  No  one  fami 
liar  with  him  but  must  have  perceived  the  progress 
his  mind  was  continually  making,  and  the  manly  in 
dependence  with  which,  when  once  convinced  of  an 
error,  he  denounced  and  cast  it  off. 

Truth  was  his  first  love  and  his  last — the  affec 
tion  of  his  life.  His  most  favourite  work  was,  I  think, 
Milton's  Areopagitica,  arid  the  magnificent  description 
of  Truth  which  it  contains  was  constantly  on  his  lips. 


Xll  PREFACE. 

Equally  remarkable  with  this,  was  his  superiority 
to  all  selfish  considerations.  He  was  doubtless  some 
times  misled  by  his  passions  and  his  prejudices — never 
by  his  interest.  No  personal  considerations  could 
weigh  with  him  a  moment,  when  set  in  opposition 
to  what  his  deliberate  judgment  convinced  him  was 
the  cause  of  truth.  Nothing  can  more  satisfactorily 
prove  this  than  his  conduct  on  the  abolition  question. 
The  first  time  that  this  matter  distinctly  presented  it 
self,  was  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1835.  The 
administration  was  then  in  its  palmiest  days.  The 
contested  elections  of  1834  had  terminated  success 
fully.  The  attack  of  the  President  upon  the  Bank, 
had  been  sustained  by  the  state  of  New- York,  and  to 
appearance  the  government  had  established  itself 
in  an  impregnable  position.  At  this  time  Mr.  Leggett 
was  the  sole  conductor  of  the  Evening  Post,  the  lead 
ing,  if  not  the  only  administration  organ  in  the  city  of 
New- York.  He  had  edited  that  journal  during  the 
warmest  part  of  the  conflict,  and  on  every  ground  he 
had  a  right  to  demand  and  expect  the  support  of  the 
party  in  power. 

At  that  moment  Mr.  Kendall,  one  of  the  most  promi 
nent  members  of  the  government,  issued  his  well- 
known  letters  to  the  postmasters  at  Charleston  and 
New- York,  in  which  he  justified,  to  a  certain  extent, 
the  conduct  of  those  officers  who  had  stopped  the  mails 
containing  what  he  termed,  the  "  incendiary,  inflam 
matory  and  insurrectionary  "  manifestoes  of  the  abo 
litionists. 

That  party  at  this  time,  was  a  small  and  un 
popular  sect.  It  is  always  painful  to  utter  a  sylla 
ble  detracting  from  the  merit  of  persons  unques- 


PREFACE. 


tionably  animated  by  the  impulse  of  a  high  moral 
principle — more   especially  of  men  combating  with 
the  baleful  institution  of  slavery.  But  the  truth  should 
at  all  times  have  precedence.     Wisdom  of  conduct 
is  as  necessary  as  integrity  of  purpose.     The  unpopu 
larity  of  the  abolitionists   was  not  wholly  without 
cause.      They  had  done    injury  to   the   progressive 
cause  of   freedom,   by   a    violence  of    denunciation 
which  the  good  sense  of  the  country  pronounced  un 
just  and  dangerous.     Their  proposed  measures  were 
not  sufficiently  distinct  to  be  intelligible  to  the  people; 
and  their  leading  organs  had  not  manifested  a  proper 
cient  deference  either  for  the  great  charter  of  the  union 
or  for  that  spirit  of  concession  and  harmony  upon 
which  our  political  existence  depends,  and  which  forms 
the  corner-stone  of  the  Constitution  itself.      It  is  how 
ever  with  the  fact  that  we  are  here  principally  con 
cerned.     But  a  few  months  before,  they  had  been  the 
victims  of  mob-law  in  New- York,  and  they  were  pre 
eminently  unpopular  with  the  commercial  classes  of 
the  north,  whose  interests  had  taken  the  alarm,  and 
who  had  enrolled  under  the  dark  banner  of  the  detes 
table   institution.     Thus  disliked  by  their  immediate 
neighbours,  they  were  absolutely  abhorrent  to  the  peo 
ple  of  the  South.    They  in  fact  stood  alone,  a  small 
and  uninfluential  sect,  professing  ultra  and  impracti 
cable  doctrines,  without  power  or  support.     In  this 
matter  of  the  post-office  law,  they  stood  unsustained, 
except  by  justice  and  freedom. 

But  this  was  enough  for  Mr.  Leggett — that  an 

unjust  and  unconstitutional  power  was  attempted  to  be 

exerted  against  them  was  enough  for  him.     Contrary 

to  the  urgent  solicitations  of  many  of  his  personal 

VOL.  1—2 


XIV  P  R  E  F  AC  E  . 

friends — against  the  vehement  representations  of  most 
of  his  political  supporters,  and  particularly  in  contempt 
of  all  consideration  of  interest,  he  declared  war  against 
the  doctrines  of  the  administration.  He  grappled, 
without  fear  or  hesitation,  with  the  Posmaster  Gen 
eral  himself,  and  in  terms  ef  eloquent  reprobation  de 
nounced  and  derided  this  new  censorship  of  the  press. 

This  conduct  can  be  ascribed  to  no  cause  whatever 
but  his  love  of  truth  and  his  utter  superiority  to  sordid 
motives,  and  from  the  moment  he  adopted  his  line  of 
proceeding,  he  steadfastly  persevered  in  it.  No  con 
siderations  moved  him.  The  administration  organ 
of  the  state  denounced  him.  The  mouth-piece  of  the 
government  excluded  him  from  the  party  pale,  but 
these  things  he  heeded  no  more  than  the  blasts  of  the 
winds :  or  if  they  produced  any  effect  at  all,  it  was  to 
arouse  him  to  a  more  vehement  and  more  unspar 
ing  opposition  of  the  measures  of  the  government. 
So  far  as  individuals  and  motives  were  concerned,  he 
may  have  been  carried  too  far  by  the  violence  of 
his  temperament;  but  we  can  scarce  pay  sufficient 
honour  to  the  boldness,  the  independence  and  the  inte 
grity  of  his  conduct. 

This  same  line  of  action  he  "pursued  until  he  was 
prostrated  by  illness  in  the  fall  of  1835,  and  obliged  to 
abandon  the  Evening  Post. 

He  established  the  Plaindealer  in  the  fall  of  1836. 
The  first  number  was  published  in  December  of  that 
year,  and  the  last  in  September,  1837. 

Jt  is  in  this  periodical  that  his  best  pieces  are  to  be 
found  ;  and  it  is  from  this  that  I  have  comparatively 
made  the  largest  selections. 

The  paper  was  established  originally  as  a  demo- 


PREFACE 


XV 


cratic  paper ;  but  the  boldest  attacks  upon  the  course 
pursued  by  the  government  towards  the  abolitionists 
are  to  be  found  in  its  columns.  While  at  the  same 
time,  there  is  no  more  vigorous  support  of  the  Sub- 
Treasury  scheme  than  its  pages  contain. 

His  mind  was  too  sagacious  not  to  perceive  that  the 
adoption  of  this  measure  must  inevitably  lead  to  the 
great  desideratum  of  American  legislation — an  ad  valo 
rem  tariff,  and  a  revenue  reduced  to  the  actual  expen 
ses  of  the  government. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  Abolition,  I  have  re 
printed  his  article  upon  Mr.  Van  Buren's  Message  of 
1836 ;  not  that  I  think  it  just,  but  because  it  is  oneof  the 
most  conclusive  proofs  of  Mr.  Leggett's  independence. 
Abolition  of  slavery,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  is  envi 
roned  by  difficulty,  and  the  President  should  not  have 
been  charged  with  a  want  of  courage  or  honesty,  with 
out  more  conclusive  proof  than  the  Message  itself  af 
forded.  I  have  also  republished  this  article  for  another 
reason,  to  which,  in  giving  increased  publicity  and  per 
manence  to  so  severe  an  invective  against  the  Presi 
dent,  it  is  right  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader. 
There  is  no  .better  evidence  of  the  superiority  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren  to  personal  resentment,  and  it  furnishes  in 
deed  the  strongest  argument  in  favour  of  the  chief  ma 
gistrate  on  the  subject  of  the  paper  in  question.  He 
could  scarcely  within  two  years  have  appointed  Mr. 
Leggett  to  the  Guatemala  mission,  at  a  time,  too,  when 
that  gentleman,  broken  down  by  illness,  was  without 
influence  or  power,  unless  he  had  been  conscious  that 
the  attack  was  unfounded.  It  is  impossible  that  news 
paper  articles  can  be  always  correct.  The  merit  of 
Mr,  Leggett's  writings  is  that  they  were  always  honest. 


XVI  PREFACE. 

The  Plaindealer  also  contains  some  articles 
on  a  subject  which  must  ultimately  engage  the  atten 
tion  of  the  American  people — that  of  direct  taxation. 
Mr.  Leggett  has  ably  put  forth  the  leading  argu 
ments  in  favour  of  this,  the  only  fair,  uniform,  and 
democratic  mode  of  raising  funds  for  the  support  of 
the  government.  It  is  not  one  of  the  least  proofs  of 
his  far-sighted  views,  and  the  enlarged  and  philosophi 
cal  tone  of  his  legislative  theories. 

Such  is  a  very  brief  sketch  of  the  character  of  the 
author  of  the  writings  contained  in  these  volumes.  It 
is  necessarily  imperfect.  The  reader  has  the  opportu 
nity  of  completing  or  correcting  it  from  his  own 
observation.  No  man's  personal  qualities  were  ever 
more  deeply  impressed  upon  his  works. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Leggett  is  deplored  with  a  regret 
that  arises  as  well  from  public  as  private  considerations. 
We  grieve  for  the  loss  of  an  accomplished  man  of 
warm  attachments,  ardently  devoted  to  his  friends,  and 
ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  for  them.  But  if  possible 
we  still  more  deeply  lament  the  death  of  an  eloquent 
and  independent  politician,  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  cardinal  principles  of  Liberty — of  one  with  no 
superior,  and  scarcely  a  rival  in  his  vocation,  who, 
whatever  his  faults,  had  merits  that  a  thousandfold 
redeemed  them  ;  his  richly  stored  intellect — 'his  vigor 
ous  eloquence — his  earnest  devotion  to  truth — his 
incapability  of  fear — his  superiority  to  all  selfish  views, 
are  forever  embalmed  in  our  memory. 

Most  especially  do  his  friends  deplore  the  time  and 
circumstances  of  his  death.  Life  appeared  to  be 
opening  brightly,  and  the  clouds  which  had  hung- 
around  him  seemed  on  the  point  of  dispersing, 


PREFACE.  XV11 

Every  year  was  softening  his  prejudices  and  calm 
ing  his  passions.  Every  year  was  enlarging  his  cha 
rities  and  widening  the  bounds  of  his  liberality.  Had 
a  more  genial  clime  invigorated  his  constitution,  and 
enabled  him  to  return  to  his  labours,  a  brilliant  and 
honourable  future  might  have  certainly  been  predicted 
of  him.  He  would  not  have  left  a  name  only  as 
the  conductor  of  a  periodical  press — he  would  not 
merely  have  left  these  transient  and  fleeting  memo 
rials  of  his  ability  and  rectitude.  It  is  not  the  sug 
gestion  of  a  too  fond  affection,  but  the  voice  of  a  calm 
judgment  which  declares  that  whatever  public  career 
he  had  pursued  he  must  have  raised  to  his  memory 
an  imperishable  monument,  and  that  as  no  name  is 
now  dearer  to  his  friends,  so  few  could  then  have  been 
more  honourably  associated  with  the  history  of  his 
country  than  that  of  WILLIAM  LEGGETT. 


A    COLLECTION 

OF  THl 

POLITICAL    WRITINGS 
or 

WILLIAM     LEGGETT 


BANK  OF  UNITED    STATES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March,  1834  ] 
In  answer  to  the  many  objections  which  are  urged 
with  great  force  of  argument  against  the  United  States 
Bank,  and  against  any  great  national  institution  of  a 
similar  character,  there  is  little  put  forth  in  its  defence, 
beyond  mere  naked  allegation.  One  of  the  assertions, 
however,  which  seems  to  be  most  relied  upon  by  the  advo 
cates  of  the  Bank,  is  that  it  has  exercised  a  most  benefi- 
cial  power  in  regulating  the  currency  of  the  country. 
Indeed,  the  power  which  it  was  supposed  it  would  possess 
to  regulate  the  currency,  furnished  one  of  the  chief 
grounds  of  the  support  yielded  to  the  original  proposition 
to  establish  a  United  States  Bank,  and  the  same  topic 
has  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  every  subsequent  dis 
cussion  of  the  Bank  question  in  Congress.  It  is  main 
tained,  in  favour  of  the  present  institution,  that  it  not 
merely  possesses  that  power,  but  that  it  has  exerted  in  it 
the  most  prudent  and  salutary  manner.  This  is  made 


20  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

the  theme  of  many  high-wrought  panegyrics.  It  is 
triumphantly  put  forth  by  the  journals  in  the  interest  of 
the  Bank  ;  it  drops  from  the  lips  of  every  Bank  declaimer 
at  political  meetings,  and  is  asserted  and  re-asserted  by 
all  the  orators  and  editors  of  the  Bank  party,  with  a  con 
fidence  which  should  belong  only  to  truth.  Many  per- 
sons,  indeed,  who  are  strongly  opposed  to  the  United 
States  Bank  on  moral  grounds  ;  who  view  with  dismay 
its  prodigious  means  of  corruption  ;  and  shudder  with 
abhorrence  at  the  free  and  audacious  use  it  has  made  of 
those  means  ;  yet  accede  to  it  the  praise  of  having  at 
least  answered  one  great  purpose  of  its  creation — namely, 
the  regulation  of  the  currency  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  men  in  general  have  not  very 
precise  notions  of  what  constitutes  a  regulation  of  the 
currency.  If  the  meaning  of  this  phrase  is  to  be  limited 
to  the  mere  sustaining  of  the  credit  of  the  Bank  at  such 
a  point,  that  its  notes  shall  always  stand  at  the  par  value 
of  silver,  then  indeed  must  it  be  admitted  that  the  United 
States  Bank  has,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  per 
formed  its  functions  in  that  respect.  Yet  no  praise  is  to 
be  acceded  to  it  on  that  score  ;  since  such  an  effect  must 
naturally  and  almost  inevitably  flow  from  the  self-imposed 
obligation  on  the  government  to  receive  its  notes  at  their 
nominal  amount,  at  all  places,  in  payment  of  debts  due 
to  the  United  States.  There  is  not  a  bank  in  the  coun 
try,  accredited  and  endorsed  by  the  Government  to  an 
equal  extent,  that  would  not  as  certainly  maintain  its  pa 
per  on  a  par  with  the  precious  metals.  Indeed,  most  of 
the  well-conducted  institutions  in  the  Atlantic  cities,  with 
out  the  advantage  of  such  countenance  from  the  Gov 
ernment,  have  preserved  their  paper  in  equal  credit ;  or, 
in  other  words,  have  been  equally  successful  in  regula 
ting  the  currency,  so  far  as  the  term  implies  the  affording 
of  a  convertible  paper  substitute  for  money,  which  shall 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  21 

pass  from  hand  to  hand  as  the  full  equivalent  of  silver 
coin.  The  doing  of  this  certainly  constitutes  an  im 
portant  branch  of  the  regulation  of  the  currency ;  but 
there  is  another  and  more  important  branch,  and  in  this 
the  United  States  Bank  has  totally  and  most  signally 
failed. 

What  is  regulating  the  currency  1  It  is  the  furnish- 
ing  of  a  medium  of  circulation,  either  metalic  or  con- 
vertible  at  par,  equal  in  amount  to  the  real  business  of  the 
country,  as  measured  by  the  amount  of  its  exports  and 
the  amount  of  actual  capital  employed  in  commercial 
business.  It  is  the  furnishing  of  that  amount  of  circula 
tion,  which  is  actually  absorbed  by  the  commercial 
transactions  of  the  country — by  those  transactions  which 
rest  on  the  basis  of  the  exchange  continually  going  on 
of  the  commodities  of  one  country  for  those  of  another. 
When  bank  issues  are  limited  within  this  circle,  the  notes 
of  the  bank  in  circulation  are  founded  on  the  security 
of  the  notes  of  merchants  in  possession  of  the  bank,  and 
the  notes  of  the  merchants  rest  on  the  basis  of  goods 
actually  purchased,  which  are  finally  to  be  paid  for  with 
the  products  of  the  soil  or  other  articles  of  export.  The 
maintaining  of  the  circulation  at  this  point  would,  in  the 
strict  and  proper  sense  of  the  word,  be  regulating  the 
currency.  It  would  be  supplying  the  channels  of  busi 
ness  to  the  degree  requisite  to  facilitate  the  operations  of 
commerce,  without  causing  those  operations  to  be  unduly 
extended  at  one  time,  and  unduly  contracted  at  another. 
It  would  be  causing  the  stream  of  credit  to  glide  in  an 
equal  and  uniform  current,  never  stagnating,  and  never 
overflowing  its  boundaries. 

When  bank  circulation  exceeds  this  measure,  an  in 
evitable  derangement  of  the  currency  takes  place.  The 
par  of  value  between  the  paper  representatives  of  money 
and  money  itself  may  still  be  maintained  ;  but  prices  are 


22  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

raised,  and  raised  unequally,  and  the  dollar  no  longer 
accurately  performs  its  office  as  a  measure  of  value.  The 
effects  of  the  expansion  of  the  currency  are  first  seen  in 
the  rise  of  the  prices  of  foreign  fabrics.  This  leads  to 
excessive  importation  on  the  part  of  the  competitors 
anxious  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advance.  Goods  are 
purchased  from  abroad  to  a  much  larger  amount  than  the 
exports  of  the  country  will  liquidate,  and  a  balance  of 
debt  is  thus  created.  The  payment  of  this  balance  drains 
the  country  of  specie.  The  bank,  finding  its  paper  re 
turn  upon  it  in  demand  for  coin,  is  obliged  suddenly,  in 
self-defence,  to  curtail  its  issues.  The  consequence  of 
this  curtailment  is  a  fall  of  prices.  Those  who  had 
ordered  goods  in  expectation  of  deriving  the  advantage 
of  the  high  prices,  are  obliged  to  sell  at  a  sacrifice,  and 
are  fortunate  if  they  can  dispose  of  their  commodities  at 
all.  Those  who  had  been  deluded,  by  the  fatal  facility 
of  getting  bank  favours,  into  extending  themselves  be 
yond  the  limits  of  that  fair  and  prudent  credit  to  which 
their  actual  capital  entitled  them,  must  necessarily  be 
unable  to  meet  the  shock  of  a  sudden  withdrawal  of  the 
quicksand  basis  on  which  their  business  rested,  and  are 
thus  compelled  to  become  bankrupts.  A  state  of  general 
calamity  succeeds — most  severe  in  the  commercial  cities, 
and  measured  in  all  places  by  a  rule  of  inverse  ratio  to 
the  excess  of  the  preceding  apparent  prosperity.  These 
sudden  expansions  and  contractions  of  the  currency  have 
happened  too  frequently  in  this  country,  and  have  been 
followed  by  effects  of  too  disastrous  a  nature,  for  any 
reader  to  be  ignorant  of  them. 

Has  the  United  States  Bank  never  caused  distress  of 
this  kind  ?  Has  it  never  caused  the  amount  of  circula 
ting  medium  to  fluctuate  ?  Has  it  never  stimulated 
business  into  unhealthy  activity  at  one  time,  and  with- 
held  its  proper  aliment  at  another  1  Has  it  never  poured 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  23 

out  a  sudden  flood  of  paper  money,  causing  the  wheels 
of  commerce  to  revolve  with  harmful  rapidity,  and  then 
as  suddenly  withdrawn  the  supply,  till  the  channels  were 
empty,  and  every  branch  of  business  languished  through, 
out  the  land  ?  There  are  few  of  our  readers  who  cannot, 
of  their  own  knowledge,  answer  these  questions  in  the" 
affirmative. 

For  the  two  or  three  years  preceding  the  extensive  and 
heavy  calamities  of  1819,  the  United  States  Bank,  in 
stead  of  regulating  the  currency,  poured  out  its  issues  at 
such  a  lavish  rate  that  trade  and  speculation  were  excited 
in  a  preternatural  manner.  But  the  inevitable  conse. 
quences  of  over  issues  did  not  fail  to  happen  in  that  case. 
A  large  balance  of  debt  was  created  in  Europe,  and  to 
pay  that  debt  our  metalic  medium  was  sent  away  from 
the  country.  The  land  was  soon  nearly  exhausted  of 
specie,  and  still  the  debt  remained  unliquidated.  The 
bank,  in  order  to  bring  business  to  an  equipoise  again,  ex 
changed  a  part  of  its  funded  debt  for  specie  in  Europe, 
and  purchased  a  large  amount  of  coin  in  the  West  Indies 
and  other  places.  But  it  still  continued  to  make  loans 
to  a  larger  degree  than  the  actual  business  of  the  coun- 
try,  as  measured  by  the  amount  of  its  exports,  required, 
and  its  purchase  was  therefore  a  most  ineffectual  and 
childish  scheme.  It  was  but  dragging  a  supply  of  water 
with  much  toil  and  expense,  from  the  lake  of  the  valley 
to  the  summit  of  an  eminence,  in  the  vain  hope  that, 
discharged  there,  it  would  continue  on  the  height  and  not 
rush  down  the  declivity,  to  mix  again  with  the  waters  of 
the  lake.  The  specie,  purchased  at  high  rates  in  foreign 
countries,  was  no  sooner  brought  to  our  own,  and  lodged 
in  the  vaults  of  the  bank,  than  it  was  immediately  drawn 
thence  again,  by  the  necessity  of  redeeming  the  notes 
which  poured  in  upon  it  in  a  constant  stream  in  demand 
for  silver.  In  one  year,  1818,  upwards  of  fifteen 


24  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

millions  of  dollars  were  exported  from  the  country,  and 
still  the  debts  incurred  by  the  mad  spirit  of  overtrading 
were  not  liquidated.  The  bank  itself  was  now  on  the 
very  verge  of  bankruptcy.  At  the  close  of  its  business 
on  the  12th  of  April,  1819,  the  whole  amount  of  money  in 
its  vaults  was  only  71,522  dollars,  and  it  at  the  same  time 
owed  to  the  city  banks  a  clear  balance  of  196,418  dollars, 
or  an  excess  over  its  means  of  payment  of  nearly  125,000 
dollars.  A  depreciation  of  its  credit  was  one  of  the  con 
sequences  which  had  flowed  from  this  state  of  things,  and 
the  notes  of  the  United  States  Bank — the  boasted  insti 
tution  which  claims  to  have  regulated  the  currency  of 
this  country — -fell  ten  per  cent,  below  the  par  value  of 
silver. 

But  the  greatest  evil  was  yet  behind.  The  Bank  was 
at  length  compelled,  by  the  situation  in  which  the  rash- 
ness  of  its  managers  had  involved  it,  to  commence  a  rapid 
curtailment  of  discounts.  An  immediate  reduction  took 
place  of  two  millions  in  Philadelphia,  two  millions  in 
Baltimore,  nearly  a  million  in  Richmond,  and  half  a 
million  in  Norfolk.  This  sudden  withdrawal  of  the 
means  of  business  was,  of  itself,  a  heavy  calamity  to 
those  cities ;  but  the  system  of  curtailment  was  perse 
vered  in,  until  the  foundation  of  a  great  part  of  the 
commercial  transactions  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
speculations  in  land,  in  internal  improvement,  and  other 
adventures,  which  the  facility  of  getting  money  had  in 
duced  men  to  hazard,  was  withdrawn,  and  the  whole 
fabric  fell  to  the  ground,  burying  beneath  vast  numbers 
of  unfortunate  persons,  and  scattering  ruin  and  dismay 
throughout  the  Union. 

The  same  scenes,  only  to  a  greater  extent,  and  with 
more  deplorable  circumstances,  were  acted  over  in  1825, 
There  are  few  inhabitants  of  this  city  who  can  have 
forgotten  the  extensive  failures,  both  of  individuals  and 


W  1  L  L  I  A  M     L  E  G  G  E  T  T  .  25 

corporate  institutions,  which  marked  that  period.  There 
are  many  yet  pining  in  comfortless  poverty  whose  dis 
tress  was  brought  upon  them  by  the  revulsions  of  that 
disastrous  year — many  who  were  suddenly  cast  down 
from  affluence  to  want — many  who  saw  their  all  slip 
from  their  grasp  and  melt  away,  who  had  thought 
that  they  held  it  by  securities  as  firm  as  the  eternal 
hills. 

But  not  to  dwell  upon  events  the  recollection  of  which 
time  may  have  begun  to  efface  from  many  minds,  let  us 
but  cast  a  glance  at  the  manner  in  which  the  United 
States  Bank  regulated  the  currency  in  1830,  when,  in  the 
short  period  of  a  twelvemonth  it  extended  its  accommo 
dations  from  forty  to  seventy  millions  of  dollars.  This 
enormous  expansion,  entirely  uncalled  for  by  any  pecu 
liar  circumstance  in  the  business  condition  of  the  coun 
try,  was  followed  by  the  invariable  consequences  of  an 
inflation  of  the  currency.  Goods  and  stocks  rose,  specu 
lation  was  excited,  a  great  number  of  extensive  enter 
prises  were  undertaken,  canals  were  laid  out,  rail-roads 
projected,  and  the  whole  business  of  the  country  was 
stimulated  into  unnatural  and  unsalutary  activity.  The 
necessary  result  of  the  spirit  of  speculation  thus  awakened 
was  the  purchase  of  more  goods  abroad  than  the  com 
modities  of  the  country  would  pay  for.  Hence  vast  sums 
of  specie  soon  began  to  leave  the  United  States  ;  scarcely 
a  packet  ship  sailed  from  our  wharves  that  did  not  carry 
out  to  England  and  France  a  large  sum  of  money  in 
gold  and  silver ;  and  it  is  estimated  that  in  1831-32  the 
specie  drawn  from  the  country  did  not  fall  short  of  twenty 
millions  of  dollars.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
failing  to  accomplish  the  bad  design  for  which  it  had  thus 
flooded  the  country  with  its  paper,  now  began  to  try  the 
effects  of  a  contrary  system,  and  resorted  to  coercion. 
VOL.  I.-— 3 


26  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

A  reduction  of  its  issues  must  inevitably  have  taken 
place  in  the  nature  of  things,  nor  could  all  the  means  and 
all  the  credit  of  the  Bank  have  removed  the  evil  day  to 
a  very  distant  period.  But  it  had  it  completely  within 
its  power  to  effect  its  curtailment  by  easy  degrees,  and  to 
bring  back  business  into  its  proper  channels  by  operations 
that  would  have  been  attended  with  little  general  distress. 
But  this  was  no  part  of  its  plan.  Its  object  was  to  wring 
from  the  sufferings  of  the  people  their  assent  to  the  per 
petuation  of  its  existence.  Its  curtailments  were  there- 
fore  rapid  and  sudden,  and  so  managed  as  to  throw  the 
greater  part  of  the  burden  on  those  commercial  places 
where  there  was  the  greatest  need  of  lenity  and  forbear 
ance.  The  distress  and  dismay  thus  occasioned,  were 
aggravated  by  the  rumours  and  inventions  of  hired 
presses,  instructed  to  increase  the  panic  by  all  the  means 
in  their  power.  Of  the  deplorable  effects  produced  by 
this  course,  the  traces  are  yet  too  recent  to  require  that 
we  should  enter  into  any  particulars. 

The  Bank  has  not  yet  exhausted  its  full  power  of 
mischief.  Since  its  creation  to  the  present  hour,  instead 
of  regulating  the  currency,  it  has  caused  a  continual 
fluctuation ;  but  it  is  capable  of  doing  greater  injury 
than  it  has  yet  effected.  It  is  perfectly  within  its  power 
to  cause  a  variation  of  prices  to  the  extent  of  twenty-five 
per  cent,  every  ninety  days,  by  alternate  expansions  and 
contractions  of  its  issues.  It  is  in  its  power,  in  the  short 
period  that  is  yet  to  elapse  before  its  charter  expires,  so  to 
embarrass  the  currency,  so  to  limit  the  amount  of  circu 
lating  medium,  so  to  impair  commercial  confidence,  and 
shake  the  entire  basis  of  mercantile  credit,  as  to  produce 
throughout  the  whole  land  a  scene  of  the  most  poignant 
pecuniary  distress — a  scene  compared  with  which  the 
dark  days  of  1819  and  1825,  and  those  through  which 


WILLIAM     LEGGBTT.  27 

we  have  just  passed,  shall  seem  bright  and  prosperous. 
And  there  are  indications  that  the  Bank  will  do  this. 
There  are  signs  and  portents  in  the  heavens  which  tell 
of  a  coming  tempest.  There  are  omens  which  foreshow 
that  this  mighty  and  wicked  corporation  means  to  use  to 
the  uttermost  its  whole  machinery  of  coercion,  to  wring 
from  the  groaning  land  a  hard  contest  to  the  renewal  of 
its  existence.  We  trust  the  People  will  bear  stiffly  up 
under  the  infliction.  We  trust  they  will  breast  the  storm 
with  determined  spirits.  We  trust  they  will  endure  the 
torture,  without  yielding  to  a  measure  which  would  de 
stroy  the  best  interests  of  their  country,  and  make  them 
and  their  children  slaves  forever. 

Regulation  of  the  currency  !     What  a  claim  to  set 
up  for  the  United  States  Bank  !     It  has  done  the  very 
reverse  :  it  has  destroyed  the  equal  flow  and  steady  worth 
of  the  currency :  it  has  broken  up  the  measure  of  value  : 
it  has  kept  the  circulating  medium  in  a  state  of  continual 
fluctuation,  making  the  dollar  to-day  worth  a  dollar  and 
a  half,  and  to-morrow  not  worth  a  half  a  dollar.     Besides 
the  three  great  periods  of  sudden  excess  and  rapid  cur 
tailment,  its  whole  career  has  been  one  series  of  experi 
ments,  more  or  less  general,  of  inflation  and  exhaustion 
of  the  currency.     And  this  is  the  institution,  which  now 
comes  forward,  and  claims  to  be  re-chartered,  on  the 
ground  of  having  well  performed  the  great  offices  for 
which  it  was  created.     It  has  failed  in  all  its  great  ends. 
In  its  chief  purpose,  as  a  fiscal  agent  and  assistant  of  the 
Government,  one  on  which  it  might  at  all  times  securely 
rely,  it  has  wholly  failed.      We  have  seen  it  interfering 
in  the  national  politics,  and  endeavouring  to  rule   the 
suffrages  of  the  people,  first  by  bribery  and  afterwards 
by  compulsion.       We  have  seen  it  place  itself  in  open 
defiance  to  the  Executive,  and  rank  him  in  its  official 


28  POLITICAL     WRITINGS    OF 

papers,  with  counterfeiters  and  robbers.  We  have  seen 
it  endeavouring  to  thwart  the  measures  of  his  administra 
tion  ;  collude  with  foreign  creditors  of  the  Government 
to  defeat  the  avowed  objects  of  the  Treasury  ;  refuse  to 
give  up  the  national  funds  at  the  commands  of  the  com 
petent  authority ;  and  finally  turn  a  committee  of  con- 
gress  with  contumely  from  its  doors,  in  violation  of  its 
charter,  and  in  violation  of  every  obligation  of  morality 
and  every  principle  of  public  decency.  This  is  the  insti 
tution  which  now  comes  forward  for  a  re-charter.  If 
the  people  grant  it  they  will  deserve  to  wear  its  chains  ! 


RIOT  AT  THE  CHATHAM-STREET  CHAPEL. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  July  8,  1834.] 
The  morning  papers  contain  accounts  of  a  riot  at 
Chatham-street  chapel  last  evening,  between  a  party  of 
whites  and  a  party  of  blacks.  The  story  is  told  in  the 
morning  journals  in  very  inflammatory  language,  and 
the  whole  blame  is  cast  upon  the  negroes  ;  yet  it  seems 
to  us,  from  those  very  statements  themselves,  that,  as 
usual,  there  was  fault  on  both  sides,  and  more  especially 
on  that  of  the  whites.  It  seems  to  us,  also,  that  those 
who  are  opposed  to  the  absurd  and  mad  schemes  of  the 
immediate  abolitionists,  use  means  against  that  scheme 
which  are  neither  just  nor  politic.  We  have  noticed  a 
great  many  tirades  of  late,  in  certain  prints,  the  object  of 
which  appeared  to  be  to  excite  the  public  mind  to  strong 
hostility  to  the  negroes  generally,  and  to  the  devisers  of 
the  immediate  emancipation  plan,  and  not  merely  to  the 
particular  measure  reprehended.  This  community  is 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  29 

too  apt  to  run  into  excitements ;  and 'those  who  are  now 
trying  to  get  up  an  excitement  against  the  negroes  will 
have  much  to  answer  for,  should  their  efforts  be  success- 
ful  to  the  extent  which  some  recent  circumstances  afford 
ground  to  apprehend.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  press  to  dis 
criminate  ;  to  oppose  objectionable  measures,  but  not  to 
arouse  popular  fury  against  men ;  to  repress,  not  to  sti 
mulate  passion.  Reason — calm,  temperate  reason — may 
do  much  to  shorten  the  date  of  the  new  form  in  which 
fanaticism  has  recently  sprung  up  among  us  ;  but  perse 
cution  will  inevitably  have  the  effect  of  prolonging  its 
existence  and  adding  to  its  strength. 

The  riot  at  the  Chatham-street  chapel  seems  to  have 
grown  out  of  the  following  circumstances.  The  New- 
York  Sacred  Music  Society  have  a  lease  of  the  chapel 
for  Monday  and  Thursday  evenings  throughout  the  year. 
Some  person,  in  behalf  of  the  blacks,  had  obtained  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Music  Society  permission  to  occupy 
the  chapel  last  evening.  The  blacks  thereupon  issued 
printed  notices  of  their  intended  meeting,  which  it  is  said 
was  called  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating  the  postponed 
festival  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  In  pursuance  of  this 
notice  they  met  and  commenced  their  exercises.  Cer 
tain  members  of  the  Music  Society  also  arrived,  not 
knowing  the  disposition  which  had  been  made  of  the 
chapel ;  but  being  informed  of  the  circumstances,  agreed 
to  postpone  the  purpose  with  which  they  had  themselves 
assembled.  Their  number,  however,  being  soon  aug. 
mented  by  the  arrival  of  other  persons,  they  reversed 
their  first  peaceable  and  proper  resolution,  and  concluded 
upon  insisting  that  possession  of  the  chapel  should  be 
given  to  them.  The  blacks,  in  the  meanwhile,  had  pray 
ed,  sung  a  hymn,  and  had  commenced  reading  the  Decla- 
ration  of  Independence.  They  did  not  seem  disposed, 
3* 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

at  that  stage  of  the  proceedings,  to  break  up  their  meet 
ing  and  retire  from  the  chapel  One  of  their  number 
rose  and  requested  them  to  do  so,  but  others  called  on 
the  meeting  to  keep  their  seats.  The  Sacred  Music  So 
ciety  then  took  forcible  possession  of  the  pulpit,  and 
thereupon  a  general  battle  commenced,  which  seems  to 
have  been  waged  with  considerable  violence  on  both 
sides,  and  resulted  in  the  usual  number  of  broken  heads 
and  benches. 

We  have  made  up  the  foregoing  statement  wholly 
from  the  one-sided  account  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer, 
the  most  inflammatory  and  unfair  paper  in  the  city  on 
what  relates  to  negroes,  as  on  all  other  subjects.  We 
have  simply  taken  its  facts,  without  their  gloss ;  and  we 
think  readers  of  candid  and  temperate  minds  will  per 
ceive  that  the  blame  of  this  disgraceful  transaction  lies 
more  with  the  white  persons  concerned  in  it,  than  with 
their  coloured  antagonists.  Permission  had  been  duly 
obtained  to  use  the  chapel  on  this  occasion ;  and  if  it 
had  not  been,  application  should  have  been  made  to  the 
civil  authorities  to  expel  the  occupants.  If  there  was  any 
dec^tion  or  concealment  practised  by  Mr.  Tappan  in 
procuring  permission  to  use  the  chapel,  as  is  alleged,  he 
made  himself  obnoxious  to  censure ;  but  that  circumstance 
furnished  no  warrant  to  eject  the  blacks  by  force  of  arms. 
That  it  was  very  wrong  in  them,  and  more  particularly 
in  the  fanatical  white  persons  who  are  leading  them  on, 
to  meet  there  at  all,  for  the  purpose  contemplated,  or  for 
any  purpose,  no  one  can  deny,  for  it  was  obviously  pro 
voking  a  riot.  That  the  whole  scheme  of  immediate 
emancipation,  and  of  promiscuous  intermarriage  of  the 
two  races,  is  preposterous,  and  revolting  alike  to  common 
sense  and  common  decency,  we  shall  be  ever  ready,  on 
all  occasions,  to  maintain.  Still,  this  furnishes  no  justi- 


WILLIAM       LEGGETT.  31 

fication  for  invading  the  undoubted  rights  of  the  blacks, 
or  violating  the  public  peace ;  and  we  think,  from  the 
showing  of  those  who  mean  to  establish  the  direct  con- 
trary,  that  these  were  both  done  by  the  Sacred  Music 
Society. 

We  are  aware  that  we  are  taking  the  unpopular  side 
of  this  question  ;  but  satisfied  that  it  is  the  just  one,  we 
are  not  to  be  deterred  by  any  such  consideration.  Cer 
tain  prints  have  laboured  very  hard  to  get  up  an  anti- 
negro  excitement,  and  their  efforts  have  in  some  degree 
been  successful.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  however, 
tthat  fanaticism  may  be  shown  on  both  sides  of  the  con 
troversy  ;  and  they  will  do  the  most  to  promote  the  real 
interests  of  their  country,  and  of  the  black  people  them- 
selves,  who  will  be  guided  in  the  matter  by  the  dictates 
of  reason  and  strict  justice.  The  plans  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society  are  rational  and  practicable;  those  of  the 
enthusiasts  who  advocate  immediate  and  unconditional 
emancipation  wholly  wild  and  visionary.  To  influence 
the  minds  of  the  blacks,  then,  in  favour  of  the  first,  we 
must  have  recourse  to  temperate  argument  and  authentic 
facts.  Whatever  is  calculated  to  inflame  their  minds, 
prepares  them  to  listen  to  the  frantic  ravings  of  those 
who  preach  the  latter  notions. 


.  ABOLITION  RIOTS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  July  11,  1834.] 
It  is  most  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  the  civil  authori 
ties  will  be  prepared  to  act  with  all  their  strength,  toge 
ther  with  that  of  the  military,  if  it  should  be  necessary, 
to  put  down,  this  night,  in  the  most  effectual  manner,  any 
further  attempt  to  make  this  city  a  scene  of  disgraceful 


32  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

riot  and  tumult.  A  mad  spirit  has  gone  abroad  among 
our  populace — a  spirit  excited  in  part,  no  doubt,  by  the 
proceedings  and  inflammatory  publications  of  the  Aboli 
tionists,  as  they  are  called ;  but  even  in  a  greater  mea 
sure  by  the  violent  tirades  of  certain  prints  opposed  to 
the  Abolitionists. 


Strongly  as  we  are  opposed  to  the  doctrines  and  to  the 
measures  of  the  Abolitionists,  both  to  those  of  the  asso 
ciation,  and  those  of  a  wilder  and  more  deeply  fanatical 
cast  which  are  advocated  in  their  journals,  and  in  anony 
mous  handbills  and  pamphlets,  yet  even  greater  is  our  op 
position  to  all  attempts  to  overthrow  those  doctrines  by 
a  resort  to  brute  unauthorized  force.  Yet  such  force  has 
been  almost  in  terms  appealed  to,  time  and  again,  by  the 
journal  we  have  named,  and  bad  as  the  conduct  of  the 
Abolitionists  is,  it  has  been  represented  in  highly  exag 
gerated  colours,  in  order  more  strongly  to  inflame  the 
public  indignation  against  them. 

Even  now  that  these  mobs  have  occurred,  and  their  pro 
ceedings  been  characterized  by  a  degree  of  lawless  vio 
lence  highly  disgraceful  to  the  city,  the  press,  with  two 
or  three  exceptions,  has  not  the  wisdom  and  independ 
ence  to  speak  out  boldly  and  energetically,  and  tell  these 
rioters  how  madly  they  are  acting.  That  a  mob,  com 
posed  more  than  half  of  boys,  of  wild,  daring,  undisciplin 
ed  boys — and  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  other  moiety 
made  up  of  the  very  dregs  of  society  —  that  this  mob,  so 
composed,  and  actuated  by  no  common  sentiment  or  ob 
ject,  further  than  the  mere  love  of  disorder  —  should  be 
treated  as  expressing  the  sentiments,  and  wreaking  the 
vengeance  of  this  great  and  moral  community,  is  an  in 
sult  on  the  character  of  the  city.  A  mob  attacking  and 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  33 

destroying  the  private  dwellings  of  citizens,  and  not  stay 
ed  even  at  the  threshold  of  the  church,  but  with  sacrile 
gious  fury  assailing  even  such  an  edifice,  though  held  in 
respect  by  the  common  sentiment  of  mankind  —  such  a 
mob  ought  to  be  treated  with  no  honeyed  words,  but  all 
good  citizens  ought  to  lend  their  assistance  to  maintain 
the  supremacy  of  the  laws,  and  put  down  this  insurrec 
tionary  spirit. 

No  reader  can  for  a  moment  suppose  that  we  approve 
or  would  countenance  in  any  degree  the  schemes  of  the 
Abolitionists.  We  have  expressed  repeatedly  our  deep 
abhorrence  of  a  portion  of  their  views,  and  our  conviction 
that  other  portions  are  wholly  visionary  and  impractica 
ble.  Even  if  their  notions  on  the  subject  of  abolition 
were  proper  in  themselves,  their  conduct  in  attempting  to 
propagate  these  notions  is  such  that  to  ascribe  it  to  fana 
ticism  is  the  most  charitable  construction.  But  even 
these  enthusiasts,  while  they  transgress  no  law,  are  under 
the  protection  of  the  laws,  and  he  who  without  legal  war 
rant  invades  their  houses  and  destroys  their  property,  if 
he  does  it  from  any  other  motive  than  virtuous  resent 
ment  against  error,  is  an  incendiary  and  robber ;  and  if 
actuated  by  that  feeling,  is  himself  an  example  of  fanati 
cism,  though  of  an  opposite  kind.  There  are  legitimate 
ways  of  expressing  public  opinion  far  more  efficacious,  as 
well  as  far  more  respectable,  than  a  mob  can  ever  be. 
We  may  call  public  meetings,  and  pass  temperate  but 
firm  resolutions  ;  we  may  expose  through  the  press  the 
absurdity  and  impracticability  of  the  views  of  those  who 
have  been  the  objects  of  assault  in  this  case  ;  we  may 
keep  a  vigilant  eye  upon  them,  and  procure  them  to  be 
indicted  and  visited  with  legal  punishment  whenever 
their  proceedings  become  obnoxious  to  the  law.  But  till 
then  they  are  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immuni- 


34 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 


ties  of  American  citizens,  and  have  a  right  to  be  protect 
ed  in  their  persons  and  property  against  all  assailants 
whatsoever.  We  trust  that  the  authorities  will  this  night 
show  that  this  right  is  not  a  mere  mockery ;  we  trust 
that  the  rioters  will  be  dealt  with  in  a  way  that  may  long 
ensure  the  quiet  of  the  city,  if'  they  dare  again  congre 
gate  to  carry  their  incendiary  purposes  into  further 
execution. 

In  making  these  remarks,  we  do  not  wish  to  be  under 
stood  as  intimating  that  there  has  been  any  remissness  on 
the  part  of  the  civil  authorities  during  the  previous  nights. 
On  the  contrary,  last  night  in  particular,  they  were  ex 
ceedingly  active,  and  took  their  measures  with  great 
promptitude  and  discretion.  But  it  was  evident  that  the 
disorders  were  far  more  extensive  than  had  been  antici 
pated,  and  the  force  under  the  direction  of  the  Mayor  was 
therefore  not  sufficient  for  the  simultaneous  protection  of 
all  the  different  points  where  the  riot  was  expected  to 
show  itself. 


ABOLITION  RIOTS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  July  12, 1834.] 
The  details  which  are  published  below,  from  the  Jour 
nal  of  Commerce  and  the  Daily  Advertiser  of  this  morn 
ing,  are  already  on  their  way  to  every  quarter  of  the 
country,  to  inform  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States 
of  the  additional  and  deplorable  blot  which  the  events  of 
last  night  have  stamped  on  the  character  of  this  city. 
The  fury  of  demons  seems  to  have  entered  into  the  breasts 
of  our  misguided  populace.  Like  those  ferocious  ani 
mals  which,  having  once  tasted  blood,  are  seized  with  an 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  35 

insatiable  thirst  for  gore,  they  have  had  an  appetite  awa 
kened  for  outrage,  which  nothing  but  the  most  extensive 
and  indiscriminate  destruction  seems  capable  of  appeas 
ing.  The  cabin  of  the  poor  negro,  and  the  temples  dedi 
cated  to  the  service  of  the  living  God,  are  alike  the  ob 
jects  of  their  blind  fury.  The  rights  of  private  and  pub 
lic  property,  the  obligations  of  law,  the  authority  of  its 
ministers,  and  even  the  power  of  the  military,  are  all 
equally  spurned  by  these  audacious  sons  of  riot  and  dis 
order.  What  will  be  the  next  mark  of  their  licentious 
wrath  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture. 


This  night  the  trial  is  to  be  once  again  made  whether 
the  public  authorities  or  a  lawless  mob  are  to  be  masters 
of  the  city  ;  whether  a  motley  assemblage  of  infuriated 
and  besotted  ruffians,  animated  with  a  hellish  spirit,  are 
to  destroy  and  slay  at  the  promptings  of  their  wild  pas 
sions  and  prejudices  ;  or  whether  the  true  sentiments  of 
this  great  community  are  to  have  their  due  preponder 
ance.  We  accord  to  the  city  magistrates  all  the  praise 
which  their  conduct  hitherto  deserves.  But  at  the  same 
time  we  must  take  leave  to  advise  them,  in  the  most  seri 
ous  manner,  no  longer  to  forbear  resorting  to  stronger 
measures,  to  such  measures  as  it  is  now  evident  can 
alone  effectually  quell  the  insurrectionary  and  destroying 
spirit  which  the  proceedings  of  the  Abolitionists,  the  indis 
creet  comments  of  certain  prints,  and  most  especially  the 
seditious  and  inflammatory  advice  of  that  journal  of 
whose  tone  and  temper  a  specimen  is  given  above,  have 
aroused.*  We  call  upon  them  not  again  to  repeat  the 

*  The  extract  here  referred  to  is  omitted  for  the  reason  stated 
in  the  Preface,  that  it  is  not  the  intention  of  this  publication  to  re- 


36  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

idle  pageant  of  a  military  procession  ;  not  to  add  to  the 
confidence  of  the  rioters  by  an  empty,  ineffectual  dis- 
play  of  unused  weapons.  Let  them  be  fired  upon,  if 
they  dare  collect  together  again  to  prosecute  their  nefa 
rious  designs.  "  Let  those  who  make  the  first  movement 
towards  sedition  be  shot  down  like  dogs — and  thus  teach 
to  their  infatuated  followers  a  lesson  which  no  milder 
course  seems  sufficient  to  inculcate.  This  is  no  time  for 
expostulation  or  remonstrance.  Forbearance  towards 
these  rioters  is  cruelty  towards  the  orderly  and  peaceable 
part  of  the  community.  Let  us  act  with  such  promptness 
and  decision  now  as  to  ensure  that  there  will  be  no  repeti 
tion  of  such  outrages  in  time  to  come.  Let  us  restore  the 
dignity  of  the  violated  law.  Let  us  not  pause  to  parley 
when  the  foe  is  at  the  gate.  Let  us  be  brief  when  traitors 
brave  the  field.  We  would  recommend  that  the  whole 
military  force  of  the  city  be  called  out ;  that  large  detach 
ments  be  stationed  wherever  any  ground  exists  to  antici 
pate  tumultuary  movements  ;  that  smaller  bodies  patrol 
the  streets  in  every  part  of  the  city,  and  that  the  troops 
be  directed  to  fire  upon  the  first  disorderly  assemblage 
that  refuses  to  disperse  at  the  bidding  of  lawful  authority. 
This  will  restore  peace  and  quietness  to  the  city,  and  no. 
thing  short  of  this  will  do  so. 


vive  the  temporary  controversies  of  the  time  when  these  articles 
were  written. 


WILLIAMLEGGETT.  37 

ANTI-SLAVERY  ASSOCIATION. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  July  22,  1834.] 
It  will  be  seen  by  the  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  last  evening,  published  in  another 
column,  that  the  communication  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Association  was  treated  with 
great  contempt  by  that  body.  As  the  communication 
has  been  inserted,  as  an  advertisement,  in  nearly  all  the 
newspapers,  the  public  generally  are  probably  pretty  well 
apprized  of  its  contents.  It  is  a  perfectly  respectful  do. 
cument,  prepared  with  the  purpose  of  showing  that  the 
association  above  named  had  transcended  none  of  those 
rights  which  are  guarantied  to  its  members,  in  common 
with  all  their  fellow-citizens,  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  that  the  objects  of  the  society  are  not 
incompatible  with  the  duties  of  its  members  as  citizens 
under  the  existing  institutions  of  this  country. 

With  all  due  respect  for  the  motives  which  actuated 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  unanimously  refusing  to  enter- 
tain  this  document,  we  must  take  the  liberty  to  say  that 
we  think  they  did  not  act  wisely  in  casting  it  out.  An 
occasion  was  presented  them  for  the  expression  of  a 
calm  and  temperate  opinion  on  the  conduct  of  the  aboli. 
tionists,  as  it  affects  the  peace  and  order  of  society, 
which,  properly  embraced,  might  have  been  pro- 
ductive  of  much  good,  both  on  the  minds  of  the  enthu- 
siasts  in  the  cause  of  negro  emancipation,  and  those, 
more  especially,  of  the  community  at  large.  We  would 
not  have  the  Common  Council  throw  itself  in  as  a  dis 
putant  in  the  fierce  and  inflammatory  discussion  which 
has  already  engaged  so  many  fiery  antagonists ;  but  we 
Should  have  been  glad  to  see  it  treat  the  subject  as  a  le- 
gislative  body — as  a  body  of  municipal  magistrates,  charg 
ed  with  the  framing  and  the  enforcing  of  the  laws.  We 
VOL.  L— 4 


38  POLITICAL     WRITINGS    OF 

should  have  been  glad  if  this  letter  of  Arthur  Tappafi 
and  his  associates  had^been  referred  to  a  discreet  and  in- 
telligent  committee,  to  the  end  that  they  might  draw  up  a 
report,  not  controverting  the  abstract  notions  of  the  abo 
litionists  on  the   subject  of  the  emancipation  and  equal 
rights  of  the  blacks,  but  proving  by  mild  and  judicious  ar 
guments,   that  even  if  the  end  they  aim  at  is  in    itself 
proper,   the  time  is  ill  chosen,  and  the  means  employed 
calculated,  not  merely  to  defeat  their  object,  but  to  plunge 
the  negroes  into  a  far  worse  condition  than  that  which 
they  are  now  taught  by  their  deluded  guides  to  repine  at. 
The   report  might   further   have    shown,    that,    even 
allowing  the  time  to  be  well  chosen  for  the  work,  and  the 
means  adapted  to  the  end,  they  pursue  a  radically  erro 
neous  course  in  addressing  their  doctrines  to  the  negroes 
themselves,   whom   they   thus   render  discontented  and 
wretched,  but  whose  condition  they  cannot  meliorate. 
To  effect  their  object  the  minds  of  the    whites  must  be 
convinced  of  its  propriety  ;  and  all  discourses  addressed 
to  the  blacks  meanwhile,  to  show  them  the  degradation  of 
their  situation,  and  their  natural  right  to  an  equal  foot 
ing  with  the  race  of  white  men,  must  inevitably  tend,  at 
the  best,  to  make  them  unhappy,  and  may  lead  to  scenes 
of  outrage  which  the  mind  shudders  to  contemplate. 

In  a  report  such  as  we  are  supposing,  the  committee 
might  also  have  taken  occasion  to  speak  words  of  saluta 
ry  counsel  to  those  classes  of  the  community  most  likely 
to  be  stirred  up  to  acts  of  violence  by  the  fanatical  con 
duct  of  the  abolitionists.  They  might  have  shown  them 
that  any  insurrectionary  movement,  instead  of  effecting 
the  object  desired,  would,  by  an  invariable  law  of  human 
nature,  be  followed  by  a  very  contrary  result.  They 
might  have  shown,  that  persecution  is  the  very  fuel  that 
feeds  the  fire  of  fanaticism  ;  that  such  men  as  the  aboli 
tionists  are  but  fixed  more  firmly  in  their  faith  by  the  op- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  39 

position  that  seeks  to  prostrate  them  ;  that  like  the  waves 
of  the  ocean,  which  swell  from  billows  into  mountains  as 
the  gale  rages  against  them,  their  spirits  but  rise  the 
higher  when  assailed  by  a  storm  of  popular  fury,  nor  sub 
side  again  till  the  tempest  is  overpast.  Fanaticism  has 
ever  flourished  most  exuberantly  in  the  most  into 
lerant  countries;  nor  are  there  many  minds  in  this  com 
munity  so  ignorant  of  the  history  of  nations  as  not  to 
know,  that,  whether  in  religion  or  politics,  enthusiasm 
gains  strength  and  numbers  the  more  its  dogmas  are  op 
posed.  The  effort  to  put  down  the  Roman  Catholic  re 
ligion  by  persecution  has  been  tried,  and  with  what  re 
sult  ?  The  attempt  to  destroy  the  heresy,  as  it  was 
deemed,  of  the  Covenanters  in  Scotland,  by  hunting 
down  its  professors,  was  also  thoroughly  tried;  but 
though  the  devoted  peasantry  were  driven  to  caves  and 
dens,  and  forced  to  subsist  on  the  roots  of  the  earth, 
the  storm  of  religious  persecution,  instead  of  extinguish 
ing,  only  fanned  the  fire  of  zeal  into  a  fiercer  flame. 

These  are  views  which,  if  the  Common  Council  had 
embraced  the  opportunity  of  the  letter  of  Arthur  Tappan 
and  his  associates  to  put  them  before  the  community,  in 
a  report  drawn  up  with  ability  and  judgment,  might,  we 
think,  have  been  productive  of  very  considerable  good. 
The  Anti-Slavery  Society,  as  the  reader  probably  re 
marked,  after  stating  that  nothing  had  occurred  to 
change  their  views  on  those  subjects  in  relation  to  which 
they  are  associated,  declare  their  determination  not  « to 
recant  or  relinquish  any  principle  or  measure  they  have 
adopted,"  but  on  the  contrary,  avow  their  readiness 
"  to  live  and  die"  by  the  principles  they  have  espoused. 
In  this — however  mistaken,  however  mad,  we  may  con 
sider  their  opinions  in  relation  to  the  blacks — what 
honest,  independent  mind  can  blame  them  ?  Where  is  the 
man  so  poor  of  soul,  so  white-livered,  so  base,  that  he 


40  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

would  do  less,  in  relation  to  any  important  doctrine  in 
which  he  religiously  believed?  Where  is  the  man  who 
would  have  his  tenets  drubbed  into  him  by  the  clubs  of 
ruffians,  or  would  hold  his  conscience  at  the  dictation  of 
a  mob? 

There  is  no  man  in  this  community  more  sincerely 
and  strongly  opposed  to  the  views  and  proceedings  of  the 
abolitionists  than  this  journal  is,  and  always  has  been. 
Our  opposition  was  commenced  long  before  that  of  those 
prints  which  now  utter  the  most  intemperate  declama 
tion  on  the  subject,  nor  have  we  omitted  to  express  it  on 
any  proper  occasion  since.  But  in  doing  this  temper 
ately,  in  employing  argument  and  reasoning,  instead  of 
calling  on  the  populace  "  to  arm  and  strike  a  blow  for 
liberty" — instead  of  painting  disgusting  portraits  of  the 
"blubber  lips  and  sooty  blood  of  negroes" — we  think  we 
are  more  effectually  advancing  the  desired  end,  than  we 
possibly  could,  by  the  most  furious  and  inflammatory  ap 
peals  to  the  angry  passions  of  the  multitude.  Indeed, 
one  of  the  reasons  why  we  lamented  the  late  violations  of 
public  order  and  private  right,  was,  that  the  effect  of  such 
outrages  would  be  to  increase,  instead  of  abating,  the 
zeal  of  abolition  fanaticism,  and  warm  many  minds  per 
haps,  which  were  before  only  moderately  inclined  to  those 
doctrines,  to  a  pitch  of  intemperate  ardour.  The  wildest 
fancies  that  ever  entered  into  a  disordered  brain  are 
adopted  as  truths  when  he  who  utters  them  meets  with 
unreasonable  persecution  ;  while,  if  unnoticed,  or  noticed 
only  by  the  proper  tribunals,  they  make  no  harmful 
impression,  even  on  the  mind  of  credulity  itself.  «  The 
lightning  hallows  where  it  falls,"  and  so  the  bolt  of  per 
secution,  in  the  eyes  of  thousands,  sanctifies  what  it 
strikes. 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  41 


SMALL  NOTE  CIRCULATION. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  August  6,  1834.] 
Now  that  real  money  has  come  into  circulation — now 
that  the  country  is  plentifully  supplied  with  gold  and  sil 
ver — we  trust  the  friends  of  a  sound  currency  will  take 
pains,  and  adopt  all  proper  measures,  to  banish  small 
notes  from  use.  We  call  upon  every  man  who  professes 
to  be  animated  with  the  principles  of  the  democracy,  to 
assist  in  accomplishing  the  great  work  of  redeeming  this 
country  from  the  curse  of  our  bad  bank  system.  We 
never  shall  be  a  truly  free  and  happy  people  while  sub- 
ject,  as  we  now  are,  to  Bank  domination.  No  system 
could  possibly  be  devised  more  certainly  fatal  to  the 
great  principle  on  which  our  government  rests — the  glo 
rious  principle  of  equal  rights — than  the  Banking  system, 
as  it  exists  in  this  country.  It  is  hostile  to  every  re 
ceived  axiom  of  political  economy,  it  is  hostile  to  morals, 
and  hostile  to  freedom.  Its  direct  and  inevitable  ten 
dency  is  to  create  artificial  inequalities  and  distinctions 
in  society  ;  to  increase  the  wealth  of  the  rich,  and  render 
more  abject  and  oppressive  the  poverty  of  the  poor.  It 
fosters  a  spirit  of  speculation,  destructive  of  love  of  coun 
try — a  spirit  which  substitutes  an  idol  of  gold  for  that 
better  object  which  patriotism  worships — a  spirit  which 
paralyzes  all  the  ardent  and  generous  impulses  of  our 
nature,  and  creates,  instead,  a  sordid  and  rapacious 
desire  of  gain,  to  minister  to  the  insatiable  cravings  of 
which  becomes  the  sole  aim  of  existence. 

We  do  not  expect  and  do  not  desire  to  overthrow  our 
pernicious  Banking  system  suddenly.  We  would  not,  if 
we  could,  do  aught  to  infringe  the  chartered  privileges 
of  Banks  already  existing.  Were  they  ten  times  worse 
in  their  effects  than  they  are,  we  would  not  justify  a 
4* 


42  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

breach  of  the  public  faith  to  get  rid  of  the  evil.  But  we 
desire  most  ardently  that  it  may  not  be  permitted  to 
spread  more  widely.  The  legislatures  may  at  least  say, 
"  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  further  ;  here  shall  thy 
proud  waves  be  stayed."  They  may  refuse  to  grant  any 
more  charters  of  incorporation,  and  may  take  effectual 
measures  to  prohibit  the  small  note  issues.  These  mea 
sures  constitute  the  proper  first  step  in  the  great  reform 
ation  for  which  we  contend,  and  these  measures  the  de 
mocracy  of  the  country — if  we  do  not  strangely  misinter 
pret  their  sentiments — will  demand. 

But  in  the  meanwhile,  the  means  are  within  the 
reach  of  the  people  themselves  to  do  much — very  much 
— -towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  desired  object. 
Let  employers  provide  themselves  with  gold  to  pay  their 
hands  ;  and  let  the  hands  of  those  employers  who  con 
tinue  in  the  practice,  which  has  been  too  extensive,  of 
procuring  uncurrent  money  to  pay  them,  take  such  mea 
sures  to  remedy  the  evil  as  are  within  their  reach,  and 
not  inconsistent  with  prudence.  The  practice  is  wholly 
unjustifiable,  and  stands,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  on 
a  footing  not  very  different  from  that  of  clipping  coins. 
The  law,  however,  which  we  all  know  is  not  always 
framed  in  the  most  perfect  accordance  with  the  princi 
ples  of  ethics,  makes  this  important  difference,  that 
while  to  the  one  species  of  dishonesty  it  extends  full  pro 
tection,  the  other  it  visits  with  the  most  ignominious  pun 
ishment.  But  though  protected  by  the  law,  workmen 
may  do  much  to  rid  themselves  of  the  evils  of  this  prac 
tise,  and  at  the  same  time  forward  the  great  object  of 
democracy — ultimate  emancipation  from  the  shackles  of 
a  detestable  Bank  tyranny.  Let  them  remember,  when 
paid  in  small  uncurrent  notes,  that  the  longer  they  retain 
possession  of  those  notes  the  greater  is  the  profit  of  the 
Bank  that  issued  them,  and  therefore  let  them  take  the 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  43 

best  means  within  their  reach  of  causing  them  to  be  re 
turned  to  the  Bank.  JSvery  dollar-note  in  circulation 
has  displaced  an  equal  amount  of  gold  and  silver,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  every  dollar  of  gold  and  silver  you  keep 
in  circulation,  will  displace  twice  or  three  times  its 
amount  in  paper  money. 

Paper  money  is  fingered  by  a  great  many  hands,  as 
may  be  easily  perceived  from  the  soiled  and  worn  ap 
pearance  of  many  of  the  bills.  A  cheap,  and,  to  a  cer 
tain  extent,  most  effectual  method  of  disseminating  the 
principles  of  those  opposed  to  incorporated  rag-money 
manufactories,  would  be  for  them  to  write  upon  the  back 
of  every  bank-note  which  should  come  into  their  posses 
sion,  some  short  sentence  expressive  of  their  sentiments. 
For  example — "  No  Monopolies  !  "  "  No  Union  of  Banks 
and  State  ! "  "  Jackson  and  Hard  Money  !  "  "  Gold  be 
fore  Rags  !  "  and  the  like.  When  it  should  become 
their  duty  to  endorse  a  bill  issued  by  a  Bank,  the  charter 
of  which  was  obtained  by  bribery  and  collusion,  (as  many 
such  there  be)  it  would  be  well  to  inscribe  upon  it  in  a 
clear  and  distinct  hand,  "  Wages  of  Iniquity  !  " 

What  we  have  here  recommended  may  seem  to  be  but 
child's  play  ;  but  we  are  satisfied  that  if  the  workingmen, 
upon  whom  the  worst  trash  of  Bank  rags  are  palmed  off, 
would  only  adopt  such  a  practice,  and  persist  in  it  for  a 
short  time,  they  would  see  the  good  result.  The  worst 
class  of  uncurrent  notes  would  soon  be  plentifully  endors 
ed,  for  it  is  the  worst  description  of  money  which  is  gen 
erally  bought  to  pay  away  to  mechanics,  in  order  that 
their  employers  may  avoid  paying  them  as  large  a  pro 
portion  as  possible  of  their  just  wages.  Let  them  consi 
der  the  hints  thrown  out  in  this  article,  and  they  can 
hardly  fail,  we  think,  to  perceive,  that  if  generally  acted 
upon,  they  would  have  an  important  effect  in  assisting 
the  introduction  of  gold  as  a  currency,  in  the  place  of 


44  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

the  small  note  circulation  of  which  there  is  so  much  rea 
son  to  complain.    / 


RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC 
REPUBLICAN  COMMITTEE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  August  12,  1834.] 

Two  advertisements,  one  from  "  the  Democratic  Re 
publican  Young  Men's  Committee,"  signed  by  MORGAN 
L.  SMITH  as  Chairman,  and  the  other  from  "  the  Demo 
cratic  Republican  General  Committee,"  signed  by  ELDAD 
HOLMES,  have  been  published  regularly  in  the  Times, 
the  first  articles  in  its  columns,  for  the  last  eight  or  ten 
days  past.  These  advertisements  purport  to  be  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Committees,  at  a  meeting  held  by  each  on 
the  evening  of  the  fourth  of  this  month.  They  each  con 
sist  of  three  resolutions ;  both  sets  of  resolutions  have, 
pari  passu,  a  corresponding  object,  and  are  expressed  in 
language  of  great  similarity ;  and  both,  we  presume,  may 
be  ascribed  to  the  same  paternity.  Being  thus,  as  it 
were,  twin-brothers,  we  shall  save  space  by  copying  only 
the  set  that  stands  first,  which  will  sufficiently  acquaint 
the  reader  with  the  ground  of  the  remarks  we  are  about 
to  offer.  They  are  as  follows : 

"At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Democratic  Republican 
Young  Men's  Committee,  held  at  Tammany  Hall,  on  the 
evening  of  the  4th  instant,  the  following  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted : 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Committee  highly  approve  the 
political  course  of  <  The  New- York  Times'  a  paper  re 
cently  established,  for  the  independent  and  fearless 
course  it  has  pursued  in  support  of  the  Democratic  Re 
publican  principles  of  the  present  administration,  and 
that  we  therefore  confidently  recommend  it  to  the  confi- 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  45 

dence   and  patronage  of   our  Democratic   Republican 
friends. 

"Resolved,  That  the  New-York  Evening  Post,  the 
Truth  Teller,  and  the  other  democratic  papers,  having 
been  consistent  and  able  labourers  in  the  cause  of  Re 
publican  principles,  are  entitled  to  the  continued  confi 
dence  and  support  of  this  Committee. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  above  resolutions  be  printed  in 
the  Democratic  Republican  papers,  and  signed  by  the 
Chairman  and  Secretaries." 

We  certainly  can  have  no  objection  that  either  of  the 
General  Committees,  or  both,  should  express  their  appro 
bation  of  the  course  of  the  Times,  for  its  course,  or  that 
they  should  confidently  recommend  it  to  confidence  and 
patronage.  There  is  nothing  in  this  recommendation, 
except  its  tautology,  at  which  any  one  has  a  right  to  feel 
offended.  The  Times  is  a  new  paper,  was  set  up  under 
peculiar  circumstances,  and  may  stand  in  need  of  such 
an  endorsement.  Its  course  has,  certainly,  so  far,  been 
as  exactly  and  carefully  squared  by  party  rules  as  the 
most  thorough-going  party -man  could  desire,  and  it  was 
therefore  but  reasonable  that  the  Committees  should  be 
called  together,  and  requested  confidently  to  express 
their  confidence  in  that  print.  If  they  had  stopped 
there  not  one  word  of  dissatisfaction  should  they  have 
heard  from  us. 

But  so  far  as  the  EVENING  POST  is  made  to  figure  in 
these  resolutions,  we  must  confess  we  are  not  exactly 
pleased.  We  have  never  presented  ourselves,  cap  in 
hand,  to  either  of  the  Committees,  to  beg  their  most 
sweet  voices  ;  we  have  never  asked  their  aid,  or  their 
endorsement  in  any  way  or  shape  ;  and  do  not  feel  that 
our  dignity  or  importance  is  increased  now  that  it  is  vol 
untarily  bestowed.  For  years  we  have  maintained,  with 
industry  and  zeal,  the  principles  of  democracy  ;  we  have 


46  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

been  forward  to  engage  in  every  contest  in  which  we 
considered  the  rights  or  interests  of  the  people  were  put 
to  hazard  ;  we  have  been  strenuous  in  asserting  the  great 
doctrine  of  equal  rights  ;  we  have  utterly  shut  our  eyes 
and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  considerations  of  private  inter 
est  ;  we  have  hesitated  not  to  speak  in  terms  of  severest 
truth  to  our  misled  and  misdoing  merchants,  although 
they  were  the  chief  supporters  of  our  journal ;  we  have 
been  vigilant  and  active  in  season,  and  out  of  season  ; 
and  now,  verily,  we  at  last  have  our  reward  ! — to  be  put 
at  the  fag-end  of  a  resolution  got  up  to  glorify  the 
Times  ! — a  paper  of  yesterday  !  a  print  which  has  all  the 
gloss  of  newness  yet  upon  it ;  which,  however  sound  in 
its  doctrines,  and  firm  in  its  principles,  bears  no  marks  of 
fight,  can  show  no  scars,  has  made  no  sacrifices. 

We  repeat,  we  have  no  objection  that  the  Democratic 
Committee  should  glorify  that  paper,  and  recommend  it 
to  "  patronage,''  (a  most  undemocratic  word,  by  the  way,) 
we  have  no  objection  they  should  laud  its  course, — (we 
also  are  gratified  with  its  general  tone  and  manage 
ment,) — we  have  no  objection  that  they  should  nod  their 
heads  in  approbation,  and  thus  give  "  the  stamp  of  fate 
and  signal  of  a  god."  But  we  do  object  to  being  our- 
selves  lugged  in  to  fill  up  the  cry — we  do  object  to  being 
put  in  the  same  category  with  the  Truth  Teller  and  all 
the  other  democratic  papers.  It  is  a  fortunate  thing  for 
us,  by  the  way,  that  the  Democratic  Chronicle  happened 
to  expire  a  few  days  before  this  ovation  to  the  Times,  or 
the  Evening  Post  might  have  found  itself  placed  side  by 
side  with  that  disgusting  dealer  in  filth  and  personalities, 
as  an  equally  worthy  champion  in  the  same  republican 
cause. 

We  do  most  sincerely  and  urgently  request  the  two 
Committees  that  they  will  hereafter  let  us  alone.  This 
is  a  request  they  can  scarcely  refuse  to  grant,  since  it  is 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  47 

the  first  we  ever  made  of  them.  We  request  that,  here- 
after,  when  any  one  interested  in  a  new  paper,  wishes 
them  to  stand  its  sponsors,  that  the  Evening  Post  may 
not  be  required  to  swing  the  censer,  or  bear  any  other 
subaltern  part  in  the  ceremonial.  As  for  their  "  patron 
age,"  or  that  of  any  other  body,  or  individual,  we  never 
asked  it,  and  never  shall.  The  democrats  who  like  our 
course  will  probably  continue  to  take  our  paper,  not 
withstanding  the  unkind  cut  of  the  Committees  in  thus 
thrusting  us  into  the  train  of  the  Times.  And  as  for  the 
Committees'  own,  direct  "patronage,"  (which  means 
advertising  to  the  amount  of  some  forty  or  fifty  dollars  a 
year,)  they  are  at  liberty,  nay,  they  are  desired  to  with 
draw  it,  whenever  they  think  they  do  not  get  their  mo 
ney's  worth.  It  is  on  this  footing  that  we  wish  to  stand 
with  all  our  subscribers  and  advertisers.  We  desire  no 
man's  "  patronage,"  and  no  man's  business,  who  does 
not  receive  from  us  a  full  and  fair  equivalent  for  all  he 
renders. 


REPLY  TO  THE  «  TIMES." 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  August  13,  1834.] 
The  Times  of  this  morning  incorrectly  represents  the 
ground  of  the  Evening  Post's  complaint  against  the  two 
Committees  which  were  called  together  a  fortnight  ago 
to  endorse  that  paper.  We  assure  the  Times  that  we  feel 
not  the  slightest  jealousy  towards  it,  nor  do  we  in  the 
least  envy  its  good  fortune  in  receiving  a  stamp  of  appro 
bation  from  the  two  Democratic  Committees.  We  hope 
that  endorsement  may  effect  the  end  which  was  intended, 
for  while  the  Times  continues  its  endeavours  to  forward 
the  republican  cause  we  shall  be  glad  to  see  it  sustained. 
We  expressed  yesterday  our  approbation  of  its  general 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

tone  and  management ;  and  so  far  from  wishing  to  sup 
plant  it  in  the  affections  of  the  general  Committee,  or  of 
the  Young  Men's  Committee,  we  only  complained  that 
the  Evening  Post,  with  all  the  other  democratic  papers, 
was  lugged  in  to  divide  honours  which  we  were  quite 
willing  should  be  conferred  on  the  Times  alone. 

As  to  which  is  the  leading  paper,  that  is  a  question  we 
are  quite  content  to  submit  to  the  readers  of  the  several 
journals,  not  thinking  the  matter  by  any  means  settled 
by  the  precedence  given  to  the  Times  in  the  resolutions 
it  refers  to.  It  perhaps  deserves  that  precedence  ;  but 
though  we  do  not  claim  to  be  a  better  soldier,  we  certain- 
ly  are  an  older  soldier  than  the  Times,  and  bear  some 
marks  of  the  service  we  have  passed  through.  Thus,  for 
our  course  in  support  of  the  interests  of  the  democratic 
party  and  in  defence  of  the  great  principle  of  Equal 
Rights,  we  lost  last  year  several  hundred  mercantile  sub 
scribers — and  this  is  the  first  time  we  have  ever  breathed 
a  syllable  on  the  subject.  Did  we  waver  in  our  faith, 
did  we  falter  in  our  struggle,  did  we  slacken  in  our  ener 
gy,  when  the  merchants  were  running  about,  from  count 
ing-room  to  counting-room,  and  beseeching  their  brother 
merchants  to  stop  the  Evening  Post  ?  —  when  men  who 
had  taken  our  paper  for  thirty  years,  wrote  us  insolent- 
notes,  commanding  its  discontinuance  ? — when  such  per 
sons  as exerted  themselves  with  mio-ht 

O 

and  main,  to  induce  our  subscribers  to  forsake  us  and  take 
the  Evening  Star  instead  ?  —  and  when  the  news  of  a 
discontinuance  was  received  in  Wall-street  with  half- 
frantic  cheers  ?  Did  we  not,  all  the  while,  pursue  the 
forward  tenor  of  our  way  with  unabated  zeal,  exposing 
the  true  nature  of  the  conflict  which  the  Rich  were  wag 
ing  against  the  Poor — the  Aristocracy  against  the  Demo 
cracy  1  Did  we  utter  a  complaint  ?  Did  we  ask  the 
General  Committee,  or  the  Young  Men's  Committee,  or 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  49 

any  other  Committee,  or  any  person,  for  assistance  ? 
Did  we  not  stand  on  our  own  resources,  and  look  alone 
to  the  final  triumph  of  truth  for  our  reward  ? 

We  ask  the  Times,  then,  if  we  have  not  a  right  to 
complain,  when  we  find  ourselves  thrust  in  at  the  tail  of 
a  proceeding  got  up  to  do  honour  and  service  to  it  1  We 
have  fought  the  battle  of  the  Democracy  for  years,  and 
were  never  made  the  subject  of  a  special  endorsement  by 
the  two  Committees  which  have  countersigned  the 
Times.  That  troubled  us  not — we  asked  not  their  stamp 
— we  desired  it  not.  Nor  does  it  trouble  us  that  their 
stamp  is  now  impressed  upon  the  Times.  That  paper  is 
welcome  to  the  distinction,  and  we  hope  it  may  answer 
the  end  to  give  it  greater  currency.  But  that,  to  con 
summate  its  apotheosis,  we  should  be  mixed  up  in  a  batch 
with  the  Truth  Teller  and  all  the  other  democratic  pa 
pers,  and  thrown  in  as  a  make-weight,  is  certainly  a  mark 
of"  continued  confidence  and  respect,"  of  a  very  sinister 
description,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  we  mean  aught  we  have 
here  said  to  express  disparagement  of  the  Truth  Teller, 
of  the  merits  of  which  spirited  and  zealous  weekly  jour 
nal  we  are  fully  sensible.  The  Truth  Teller  itself  has  a 
right  to  complain  of  being  kneaded  into  a  common  lump 
with  a  parcel  of  nameless  prints  —  no  one  may  say  how 
many  nor  of  what  character.  But  if  the  Truth  Teller, 
which  is  a  weekly  paper,  and  devoted  but  in  part  to 
American  politics,  has  a  right  to  feel  displeased,  how 
much  more  so  have  we,  that  for  a  long  series  of  years 
have  bent  our  undivided  energies  to  one  object,  the  pro- 
motion  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Republican 
party  ?  But  we  do  not  complain  ;  we  confine  our  ani 
madversions  to  a  single  request  —  that  the  Committees 
will  hereafter  let  us  alone,  to  pursue  our  own  course,  in  our 
own  way,  and  not  drag  us,  against  our  will,  to  serve  as 
VOL.  I, —5 


50  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

torch-bearers  or  train-holders  in  any  triumphant  proces 
sion  in  honour  of  any  new  object  of  their  glorification. 
If  we  cannot  recommend  ourselves  to  the  democracy,  we 
do  not  wish  the  Committees  to  do  it  for  us.  And  as  to 
being  harnessed  to  the  triumphal  car  of  the  Times,  it  is  a 
piece  of  service  we  do  not  affect — we  are  somewhat  res 
tive,  and  might  throw  the  train  into  confusion  by  kicking 
out  of  the  traces. 


THE  PRESIDENTIAL  CONTEST. 

[From  t he  Evening  Post  of  August  19,  1834.] 
The  duties  of  our  situation  oblige  us  to  study  with 
more  attention  than  mere  taste  might  incline  us  to  do, 
the  indications  of  public  sentiment  and  public  policy,  as 
furnished  by  the  course  and  tone  of  political  journals, 
and  the  proceedings  of  political  meetings.  From  the 
survey  we  have  taken  of  the  movements  of  the  opposi 
tion  party,  for  the  last  few  months,  it  seems  to  us  quite 
evident  that  they  are  laying  a  scheme  to  cheat  the  peo 
ple  out  of  the  election  of  President.  They  seem  to  act  on 
a  principle  of  settled  distrust  of  the  intelligence  and  pa 
triotism  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  to  have  laid 
their  plans  to  carry  their  object  in  defiance  of  the  wishes 
of  a  majority.  For  this  purpose,  it  is  their  present  aim 
to  bring  together,  and  combine  into  one  body,  all  the 
materials  of  opposition,  however  dissimilar  and  heteroge 
neous,  with  a  view  to  return  to  the  next  Congress  as 
many  members  as  possible  opposed  to  the  present  admi 
nistration,  no  matter  how  contrariant  and  irreconcileable 
their  respective  grounds  of  opposition. 

This  object  accomplished,  their  next  step  will  be,  not 
by  mutual  compromise  and  conciliation  to  name  some 
candidate  for  the  President  on  whom  all  the  diversified 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  51 

sects  of  their  composite  party  might  unite;  for  they  are 
sensible  that  such  harmony  of  action  is  impossible,  and 
that  they  are  not  more  hostile  to  the  present  administra 
tion  than  they  are  to  each  other  ;  but  for  each  faction  to 
set  up  its  own  candidate,  and  support  him  in  his  own 
particular  district  of  country,  in  the  hope  that  the  sum  of 
the  votes  thus  scattered  among  the  various  chiefs  of  the 
opposition  may  be  sufficient  to  defeat  an  election  by  the 
people,  and  carry  the  question  into  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  Should  the  question  be  between  the  candi 
date  of  the  democracy,  and  any  single  candidate  the  op. 
position  might  name,  they  are  well  aware  that  the  choice 
of  the  democratic  party  would  be  ratified  by  a  very  large 
majority  of  votes.  They  will  therefore  seek  to  distract 
the  public  mind  by  a  multiplicity  of  candidates,  to  take 
the  election  out  of  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  submit  it 
to  a  body  where  each  state  has  only  an  equal  voice,  and 
where  experience  has  shown  that  collusion  and  intrigue 
may  obtain  a  decision  in  direct  opposition  to  the  clearly 
expressed  will  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 

That  this  is  the  game  which  the  various  united  fac 
tions  that  compose  the  opposition  intend  to  play  off  there 
can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  It  is  a  corrupt  scheme, 
because  it  is  devised  with  a  manifest  intention  and  desire 
of  preventing  a  fair  expression  of  the  popular  will ;  and 
the  preliminary  steps  are  corrupt,  because  in  the  indus 
trious  and  almost  incredible  efforts  which  the  combined 
parties  of  the  opposition  are  now  making  to  elect  mem. 
bers  to  Congress  opposed  to  the  administration,  great 
pains  are  taken  to  conceal  from  the  people  the  ultimate 
object  which  they  have  in  view.  For  this  purpose  the 
war  is  waged  simply  on  the  broad  ground  of  hostility  to 
the  Executive  and  to  Martin  Van  Buren.  No  definite 
principles  of  action  or  of  public  policy  are  avowed  ;  be. 


52  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

cause  there  are  none  on  which  this  amalgamated  body 
of  political  antipathies  could  agree.  No  name  of  a  suc 
cessor  is  breathed  ;  because  the  utterance  of  such  a  name 
would  dissolve  the  unholy  spell  which  binds  them  together 
before  the  great  end  of  the  ill-assorted  union  is  achieved. 
It  is  therefore  opposition  to  the  administration  which 
they  alone  venture  to  declare  as  their  motive  of  action, 
and  to  this  motive  they  attempt  to  give  a  colour  of  patri 
otism  by  the  iteration  of  certain  sounding  and  illusory 
phrases,  the  ready  resort  of  political  knaves  and  dema 
gogues  in  all  countries  and  all  ages  of  the  world. 

Among  the  catchwords  on  which  they  seem  most  to 
rely  for  success,  are  the  shouts  which  they  are  forever 
bawling  in  our  ears,  of  "  Constitution  and  Laws  !  "  and 
"  Principles,  not  men  !  "  As  to  their  pretended  venera 
tion  for  the  Constitution  and  Laws,  it  accords  well  with 
a  party  whose  only  hopes  of  success  rest  on  the  issue  of 
a  deliberate  fraud  upon  the  People !  We  say  a  fraud 
upon  the  People — and  what  can  be  a  more  positive  and 
flagitious  fraud,  than  this  combination  of  political  sects, 
as  opposite  as  day  and  night  in  their  doctrines  and  views, 
acting  together,  not  with  a  view  to  establish  any  common 
and  definite  course  of  policy  for  the  administration  of  the 
General  Government,  but  simply  for  the  preliminary  pur: 
pose  of  pulling  down  a  Chief  Magistrate  who  enjoys  the 
confidence  and  affections  of  the  People — each  leader  of 
those  opposite  factions  inwardly  trusting  to  his  own  skill 
in  the  arts  of  collusion,  intrigue,  and  corruption,  to  win 
over  the  partizans  of  the  others  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  thus  secure  the  Presidential  succession  to 
himself  ? 

When  the  country  beholds  the  leaders  of  the  most  con 
tradictory  and  irreconcileable  political  doctrines  that 
were  ever  entertained  under  our  confederacy  leaguing 
together  for  a  common  purpose  of  hostility  to  the  domi- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  53 

nant  party,  and  all  joining  with  equal  lustiness  in  the  cry 
of  Constitution  and  Laws  !  even  Charity  herself  would 
whisper  that  their  conduct  and  motives  ought  to  be  scruti- ' 
nized  with  vigilantly  inquiring  eyes.  Is  it  the  leader  of 
the  sect  which  professes  the  nullification  heresy  whose 
fears  are  aroused  for  the  safety  of  the  Constitution  and 
Laws  ?  What !  he  who  but  a  few  months  ago  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt,  advised  the  South  to  spurn  with  con- 
tempt  the  revenue  laws  of  the  country,  and  to  resist 
their  enforcement  to  the  death  !  What !  he  who  talked 
of  sundering  the  Union,  of  establishing  a  separate  repub 
lic,  and  of  shooting  down  like  beasts  that  perish  any  such 
of  his  fellow-countrymen  as,  in  pursuance  of  the  orders 
of  Government,  should  cross  the  borders  of  South  Caro 
lina  to  enforce  the  violated  laws !  Is  he  now  one  of  the 
chief  leaders  of  the  opposition  party  against  the  Execu 
tive,  on  the  ground  of  an  invasion  of  the  Constitution 
and  Laws  1  A  fit  minister  of  vengeance  for  such  an 
offence  !  Fellow-countrymen,  watch  him  well ! 

Hand  in  hand  with  him,  the  next  one  of  the  league 
who  attracts  our  notice  is  connected  with  reminiscences 
of  a  very  different  nature.  In  him  we  behold  the  author 
of  that  gigantic  scheme  of  injustice  and  oppression,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  build  up  a  manufacturing  aristo 
cracy,  and  enrich  them  out  of  the  earnings  of  the  hardy 
sons  of  commerce  ;  that  scheme,  which  under  the  sound- 
ing  pretence  of  holding  out  protection  to  American  in- 
dustry,  was  intended  to  strengthen  the  General  Govern, 
ment  at  the  expense  of  the  States,  and  to  lay  the  founda 
tion  of  an  enormous  and  profligate  system  of  public  ex- 
penditure  which  would  have  resulted,  at  no  distant  day, 
in  the  total  overthrow  of  the  liberties  of  the  American 
people ;  that  scheme  which  was  devised  to  advance  his 
own  ambitious  views,  in  defiance  of  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution,  and  of  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  South  ; 
5* 


54  POLITICAL      WHITINGS      OF 

and  the  palpable  injustice  and  cruel  oppression  of  which 
led  the  Nullifier  with  whom  he  is  now  joined  in  a  pretend 
ed  fraternal  embrace  to  those  traitorous  measures  which, 
but  for  the  inflexible  patriotism  and  energy  of  our  Chief 
Magistrate,  would  have  eventuated  in  the  dissolution  of 
our  inestimable  union.  He  also  is  a  fit  one  now  to  wage 
war  against  the  administration  on  the  ground  of  its  vio 
lation  of  the  "  Constitution  and  Laws." 

A  third  one  in  this  unholy  league  has  ever  been  dis- 
tmguished  by  his  opposition  to  the  equal  rights  of  the 
people,  and  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  demo 
cratic  party.  In  him  we  behold  a  man  in  whom  hostility 
to  democracy  is  the  only  principle  which  he  has  never 
forsaken — a  man  who  opposed  with  all  his  energy  the 
measures  of  the  Government  when  at  war  with  Great 
Britain;  who  rejoiced  in  the  victories  of  the  enemy; 
who  at  one  time  was  the  opponent,  and  then  the  advocate, 
of  the  United  States  Bank  ;  at  one  time  a  declaimer 
against  the  American  System,  and  then  its  fast  friend. 
This  is  the  third  member  of  the  triumvirate  of  political 
rivals  who  join  in  proclaiming  as  their  watchword  and 
battle-cry,  the  Constitution  and  Laws  ! 

Among  the  vague  and  ambiguous  sentiments  by  which 
they  profess  to  be  governed,  is  the  stale  and  unmeaning 
phrase,  of  "  Principles  not  Men"  This  is  one  of  those 
juggling  maxims  with  which  sordid  and  selfish  politicians 
have  ever  attempted  to  cheat  mankind.  It  has  an  honest 
and  taking  sound,  but  is  utterly  without  substance,  a 
mere  jingle  of  words,  vox  et  praterea  nihil.  Not  much 
discernment  is  requisite  to  detect  the  fallacy  and  empti 
ness  of  this  dishonest  invention  of  unprincipled  dema 
gogues  ;  for  surely  any  man  must  perceive  that  princi 
ples  without  men,  are  little  better  than  men  without  prin 
ciples.  Do  they  mean  to  elect  their  principles  to  office  ? 
Do  they  mean  to  have  us  governed  by  abstractions  ?  by 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  55 

a  body  of  ethics  ?  by  a  set  of  precepts  ?  or   will  they, 
like  every  other  party,  be  sooner  or  later  obliged  to  hold 
forward  some  man,  as  the  person  who  is  governed  by  their 
principles,  and  who,  if  chosen,  will  carry  them  into  exer 
cise?     This  wretched  sophistry  of  "principles  not  men" 
has  been  used,  all  the  world  over,  as  a  cloak  for  political 
knavery — as  a  convenient  shelter  for  those  to  fight  behind, 
who  had  no  principles  at  all,  and  who  were  endeavour 
ing  to  elevate  men  so  notoriously  unworthy,  that  pru 
dence  forbade  their  being  named.     "  It  is  an  advantage 
to  all   narrow  wisdom  and  narrow  morals,"  says  Burke, 
"that  their  maxims  have  a  plausible  air,  and,  on  a  cursory 
view,  appear  equal  to  first  principles.      They  are  light 
and  portable.     They  are  as  current  as  copper  coin  ;  and 
about  as  valuable.     They  serve  equally  the  first  capaci 
ties  and  the  lowest ;  and  they  are  at  least  as  useful  to  the 
worst  men  as  the  best.     Of  this  stamp  is  the   cant  of 
Not  men  but  measures  ;  a  sort  of  charm  by  which  many 
people  get  loose  from  every  honourable  engagement."  If 
the  opposition  party,  or  the"  Whig   party,"  as  they  pre 
fer  to  call  themselves,  are  one — one  in  their  political  doc 
trines  and   political  objects — let  them  avow  what  their 
doctrines   and  objects  are  ;    let  them   name  the  person 
whom  they  desire  to  elevate  that  he  may  carry  them  into 
effect ;  let  us  see  what  are  their  principles  and  who  are 
their  men.     "  Unqualified  and  uncompromising  hostility 
to  Martin  Van  Buren,"   is  but  half  a  motive.     Pulling 
down  is  but  a  moiety  of  the  work  they  have  to  achieve  ; 
they   must  build  up,  also  ;  and  the  People  are  curious  to 
see   what  sort  of  a  mixed  and  composite  administration 
they  propose  to  create  out  of  the  various  materials   of 
which  their  heterogeneous  party  is  composed. 


56  POLITICAL    WRITINGS    OF 

SMALL  NOTES  AND  THE  STATE  BANKING 
SYSTEM. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  August  26,  1834.] 
Every  day  adds  to  the  number  of  the  indications,  which 
any  man  not  blind  must  perceive,  that  the  great  body  of 
the  democracy  of  this  state  are  radically  opposed  to  the 
Banking  System,  as  it  exists  in  this  country,  and  are  de 
termined  to  insist  that  their  representatives  in  the  legis 
lature  shall  take  the  first  great  step  towards  a  reforma 
tion,  by  prohibiting  the  issue  of  small  notes.  The 
Albany  Argus  has  at  last  taken  a  decided  stand  on  this 
subject,  and  we  notice  with  great  pleasure  that  several 
sound  and  influential  country  journals  have  likewise  ex 
pressed  themselves  in  favour  of  the  prohibition,  in  manly 
and  explicit  terms.  The  Poughkeepsie  Telegraph  has 
the  following  sensible  paragraph  on  the  subject.  [Here 
follows  extract."] 

The  Albany  Argus  of  last  Saturday  quotes  the  fore 
going  paragraph,  with  a  remark,  that  it  is  "  happy  to 
perceive  that  the  question  of  restricting  the  issue  of  bank 
notes  of  the  smaller  denominations  is  beginning  to  receive 
the  notice  of  the  republican  press,  as  well  as  of  the  peo 
ple  in  their  primary  meetings,"  and  it  avows  its  "  full 
concurrence,  both  in  the  general  expression,  and  in  the 
extent  of  the  restriction." 

So  far,  so  well.  One  step  further,  however,  is  demand 
ed,  both  by  the  sentiments  of  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
democracy,  and  by  a  due  regard  to  the  political  princi 
ples  on  which  the  democratic  party  is  founded.  The 
Bank  system  is  an  insidious  enemy  of  democracy.  It  is 
an  essentially  aristocratic  institution.  It  has  stolen  upon 
us  like  a  thief  in  the  night.  It  has  sprung  up  among  us, 
before  the  people  were  aware  of  its  true  nature  and  its 
rapid  growth.  Either  the  Bank  system,  which,  in  other 
words,  is  an  odious  system  of  exclusive  privileges,  must 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  57 

be  put  down,  or  the  days  of  democracy  are  numbered. 
We  wish  not  this  to  be  done  by  any  sudden  or  violent 
means ;  but  we  look  upon  it  as  the  bounden  duty  of  all 
who  really  entertain  republican  sentiments  ;  who  would 
really  grieve  to  see  this  country  lapsing  into  aristocracy  ; 
who  really  desire  to  preserve  the  great  and  fundamental 
principle  to  the  democratic  party— the  glorious  principle 
of  Equal  Rights  ; — we  look  upon  it  as  the  bounden  duty 
of  all  such  to  oppose,  by  all  proper  means,  our  most  per 
nicious  system  of  banking  —  a  system  which  has  grown 
up  in  this  country  so  rapidly,  and  has  acquired  such  for- 
midable  power,  that  we  already  present  the  degrading 
spectacle  of  a  people  professing  to  be  self-governed,  and 
yet  completely  held,  in  many  respects,  in  the  vile  fetters 
of  a  host  of  exclusively  privileged  money  monopolies. 

We  say,  therefore,  that  one  step  further  than  the  mere 
restriction  of  small  bank-notes  is  necessary.  The  senti 
ment  ought  to  be  distinctly  avowed  that  no  new  bank 
charters  shall  be  granted,  and  no  existing  charters  extend 
ed,  either  in  duration  or  amount.  Let  the  legislators  be 
chosen  with  a  full  understanding  that  this  is  the  wish  of 
the  people.  Let  them  be  told  that  they  are  to  truck  or 
bargain  away  no  more  exclusive  money  privileges,  for  any 
political  or  pecuniary  consideration  whatever,  or  for  any 
other  purpose,  real  or  pretended.  Let  them  understand, 
moreover,  that  these  steps  are  but  the  beginning  of  a  sys 
tem  of  measures  which  will  be  steadily  persevered  in  by  the 
democracy,  until  every  vestige  of  monopoly  has  disap 
peared  from  the  land,  and  until  banking  —  as  most  other 
occupations  are  now,  and  as  all  ought  to  be — is  left  open 
to  the  free  competition  of  all  who  choose  to  enter  into 
that  pursuit. 

We  have  already  too  many  banks,  viewing  the  subject 
without  reference  to  the  question  of  exclusive  privileges. 
We  have  too  many  banks,  merely  considering  them  as 


53  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

instruments  to  supply  a  circulating  medium.  The  banks 
which  already  exist  cannot  possibly  do  a  profitable  busi 
ness,  except  by  fostering  a  harmful,  demoralizing  spirit 
of  overtrading  and  speculation.  There  is  no  good  reason 
why  a  single  additional  charter  should  be  granted,  or 
why  the  capital  of  any  bank  should  be  enlarged.  We 
therefore  hope  that  the  democracy,  throughout  the  state, 
will  be  careful  to  let  their  sentiments  on  this  interesting 
and  important  subject  be  fully  and  clearly  expressed. 
In  this  city,  we  would  in  a  particular  manner  call  upon 
the  people  to  give  free  and  emphatic  utterance  to  their 
wishes. 

For  our  own  part,  this  journal  long  ago  voluntarily 
declared  it  would  support  no  candidate  for  the  legislature 
who  is  not  understood  to  be  unequivocally  opposed  to  the 
granting  of  any  new  bank  charter,  or  to  the  extending  of 
any  new  one.  This,  and  the  determination  to  prohibit 
the  issue  of  notes  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars, 
constitute  a  qualification,  without  which  no  candidate 
shall  receive  our  support.  The  people  have  groaned  and 
sweated  under  Bank  tyranny  long  enough.  It  is  time 
that  they  should  rise  in  their  strength,  and  assert  their 
right  to  be  freed  from  the  petty  yet  galling  despotism  of 
money  incorporations. 


THE   ELECTION. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Sept.  24, 1834.] 
The  more  we  reflect  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
Bank  party  at  the  meeting  at  Masonic  Hall  to  the  mer 
chants  of  this  city,  to  close  their  stores  during  the  election, 
the  more  we  are  struck  with  the  probable,  nay  almost  cer 
tain  consequences  of  such  a  rash  and  malignant  proce 
dure.  Not  that  we  apprehend  any  results  injurious  to 


WILLIAM     LEGOBTT.  59 

our  cause,  or  to  those  by  whom  it  is  supported.  The 
hard  hands,  sturdy  limbs,  and  honest  hearts  of  the  demo- 
cracy  of  this  city,  are  fully  adequate  to  the  defence  of 
their  sacred  right  of  suffrage.  Other  considerations, 
therefore,  have  impelled,  and  will  still  impel  us,  to  raise 
our  voice  against  this  second  attempt  to  throw  our  city 
into  confusion  ;  to  frighten  our  peaceable  citizens  into  the 
innermost  sanctuary  of  their  dwellings  ;  to  invite  to  riot 
and  bloodshed ;  and  to  bring  disgrace  on  the  name,  the 
practices,  and  the  principles  of  free  government. 

Hitherto,  and  until  resort  was  had  to,  this  new  expedient 
of  letting  loose  upon  the  peaceful  voters  of  this  city,  a  host 
of  mac -headed  young  men  and  half-grown  men,  for  the 
purpose  of  marching  out  of  their  own  peculiar  wards  into 
those  where  they  had  no  business  to  go,  for  the  purpose  of 
surrounding  the  polls  and  insulting  the  democratic  voters 

until  that  pernicious  example  was  set  by  the  pretended 

supporters  of  order  and  decency,  the  elections  of  this  coun 
try  were  the  boast  of  our  people,  and  the  admiration  of 
foreigners.  Contrasted  with  the  riots,  the  battles,  and 
the  broken  heads  of  the  English  polls,  they  exhibited  to 
the  world  the  example  of  a  decorous  and  peaceful  strug 
gle  for  power,  honourable  to  the  nation,  and  doubly  ho- 
nourable  to  the  spirit  of  liberty.  They  afforded  a  full  and 
unanswerable  refutation  of  the  vain  assumption  of  aristo 
cratic  pride,  that  disorder  and  licentiousness  will  ever  ac 
company  a  general  diffusion  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  and 
deprived  the  enemies  of  freedom  of  their  last  argument 
against  the  equal  rights  of  the  people. 

Hence,  one  of  the  great  objects  of  the  Bank  "party  in 
adopting  the  me'asure  which  is  the  subject  of  these  re 
marks,  undoubtedly  is,  to  goad  on  the  young  men  and 
boys  who  are  in  a  state  of  dependence,  to  provoke  the 
people  to  acts  of  violence,  by  every  means  in  their  power, 
and  then  to  proclaim  to  the  world  that  these  acts  of  just 


60  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

resentment  are  the  boiling  effervescences  of  the  turbulent 
spirit  of  democracy.  They  intend  to  draw  new  argu 
ments  against  equal  rights  and  universal  suffrage,  from 
the  consequences  that  may  result  from  their  own  mad, 
malignant  measures,  and  to  charge  the  honest,  industri 
ous,  upright,  independent  voters  of  this  city  with  all  the 
odium  of  acts  forced  upon  them  in  their  own  defence. 
Such  was  the  course  they  pursued  during  the  last,  such 
the  course  they  are  about  pursuing  in  the  coming  elec 
tion.  In  the  former  of  these  occasions,  by  the  instru. 
mentality  of  that  dexterity  in  falsehood  and  misrepresenta 
tion  which  seems  to  be  the  main  pillar  of  their  principles 
and  their  practices,  they  metamorphosed  the  breakers  of 
the  peace  into  the  conservators  of  the  peace,  and  con 
verted  an  attack  on  the  property  of  the  state,  into  a  de 
fence  of  the  rights  and  property  of  the  citizens.  By  the 
same  adroitness  at  legerdemain,  they  will  without  doubt 
attempt  to  make  the  world  believe,  that  a  similar  course 
of  conduct  on  a  future  occasion  resulted  from  the  same 
disinterested  regard  to  the  public  welfare,  and  the  peace 
of  the  city. 

If  such  is  not  the  secret  motive  of  this  letting  slip  the 
dogs  of  war  upon  us,  to  what  other  motive  shall  we  ascribe 
a  measure  so  fraught  with  consequences  such  as  they 
without  doubt  anticipate  ?  Cannot  these  youngsters 
come  quietly,  one  by  one,  and  give  in  their  votes,  if  they 
are  entitled  by  age  and  residence,  and  go  about  their 
business  when  they  have  done  so,  like  the  rest  of  their 
fellow-citizens  ?  To  what  purpose  throng  about  the  polls, 
day  after  day,  except  to  impede  others,  insult  their  feel 
ings,  and  provoke  them  to  retaliation  ?  Do  they  expect 
to  gain  any  votes  by  this  course  of  conduct  1  Certainly 
not.  Their  object  is  to  prevent  others  from  voting ;  to 
pry  into  the  ballots  of  such  tradesmen,  mechanics,  and 
labourers,  as  may  be  in  the  employment  of  the  lordly 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  61 

master  they  themselves  serve,  and  denounce  them  for  fu 
ture  proscription,  and  finally,  in  the  last  resort,  to  invite 
the  sturdy  democracy  to  resent  their  impertinent  inter 
ference. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  motives  and  the  expectations 
of  these  "  friends  of  order  and  decency,"  we  earnestly 
hope,  though  we  can  scarcely  in  reason  expect,  they  will 
be  signally  disappointed.  We  hope  the  manly  and  sedate 
democracy  of  our  city,  conscious  of  its  superior  strength, 
virtue,  and  independence,  will  content  itself  with  laugh 
ing  to  scorn  these  puny  insects,  that  come  to  buzz  their 
impertinencies  in  their  ears,  and  in  the  stern  yet  tempe 
rate  spirit  of  utter  contempt,  treat  them  as  spoiled  chil 
dren,  invited  to  dangerous  mischief,  and  ignorant  of  its 
probable  consequences.  Let  them  recollect  that  these 
misguided  young  men  and  beardless  boys,  are  but  the  in- 
nocent  puppets  of  violent  and  interested  leaders,  who  send 
them  forth  as  tools  and  cats-paws  to  provoke  the  men  of 
the  city,  and  bring  upon  their  own  heads  the  conse 
quences  of  their  own  doings.  We  earnestly  hope  the  pa 
rents  of  these  indiscreet  and  deluded  youth  will  make  use 
of  their  authority,  and  enjoin  them  on  their  obedience 
and  duty  to  keep  away  from  these  riotous  meetings  at 
Masonic  Hall,  and  stay  at  home  of  evenings,  under  the 
sacred  protection  of  their  hearths  and  firesides.  Finally, 
we  call  upon  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace,  in  the 
spirit  of  pastors  of  their  flocks,  and  advocates  of  social  or 
der,  to  adjure  the  aged  to  exert  their  influence  to  prevent 
their  sons  going  forth  thus  to  throw  firebrands  into  the 
city. 

What  will  be  the  probable  result  of  this  rabble  of  hot 
headed  young  men  and  indiscreet  boys,  with  their  ships 
and  their  banners,  intruding  into  the  wards  where  they 
neither  reside  or  have  a  vote  ?  At  first,  perhaps,  a  con 
test  of  cutting  jests,  and  bitter  repartee,  in  which  those 
VOL.  I.— 6 


62  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

who  get  the  worst  will  become  the  most  imitated.  From 
hard  words  to  hard  blows  is  but  a  single  step.  The  mad 
ness  will  spread  ;  the  cudgel  will  be  lifted  ;  the  paving- 
stones  and  brick-bats  will  fly  ;  the  concealed  dirk  will  be 
drawn  ;  blood  will  flow,  and  innocent  lives  pay  the  for 
feit  of  the  madness  of  youth,  spurred  on  by  smooth-faced 
hypocrites  and  reckless  renegades.  But  this  is  not  all, 
nor  is  it  the  worst.  The  civil  authorities  of  the  city 
being  too  weak  to  quell  the  fury  of  the  multitude,  will  be 
obliged  to  call  out  a  military  force.  But  whence  are 
they  to  obtain  such  a  force  ?  Those  who  compose  the 
military  would  probably  be  engaged,  on  opposite  sides, 
among  the  rioters.  Yet  *  let  us  suppose  it  practicable  to 
obtain  a  military  force  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  order. 
We  shall  then  behold  citizens  with  arms  in  their  hands 
stand  arrayed  against  those  who  have  none.  All  other 
means  failing  to  still  the  tumult  and  arrest  the  actors,  it 
will  become  the  painful  duty  of  the  Mayor  to  order  the 
troops  to  fire  into  the  multitude  ;  or  if  he  should  refrain 
from  so  doing,  a  single  missive  not  perhaps  intended  for 
that  purpose,  provokes  one  of  the  military  to  fire  without 
orders.  Who  shall  paint  the  consequences  of  such  an 
act  ?  We  shrink  from  the  anticipation.  It  is  sufficient 
to  refer  to  the  thousand  examples  under  similar  circum 
stances.  Who  shall  pretend  to  say  that  our  city  would 
not  smoke  in  ashes  and  blood  1 

Such  are  the  consequences  likely  to  flow  from  this  last 
and  desperate  resort  of  a  baffled  and  twenty  times  defeat 
ed  traitor.  And  all  for  what  ?  That  the  Bank  may 
triumph  over  the  constitution,  and  money  tyrannize  over 
men. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  63 

THE  STATE  PRISON  MONOPOLY. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Oct.  1834.] 

We  are  very  sorry  to  see  the  opposition  to  the  scheme 
of  State  Prison  labour,  or  the  State  Prison  Monopoly, 
as  it  is  termed,  showing  itself  in  acts  of  violence, 
the  effect  of  which  must  be  to  cool  the  friendship  which 
men  of  correct  principles  entertain  for  that  cause,  if 
not  to  turn  them  wholly  against  it.  We  allude  to  the 
mutilation  of  edifices  built  of  materials  prepared  at  Sing- 
Sing  Prison.  A  number  of  costly  and  beautiful  houses 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  town  have  been  defaced  and 
mutilated  by  some  misguided  and  unprincipled  persons, 
for  no  other  reason  that  can  be  conjectured  than  that 
they  were  constructed  of  materials  procured  at  the  State 
Prison.  This  journal  is  opposed  —  decidedly  and 
strongly  opposed  —  to  any  plan  of  convict  labour,  the 
effect  of  which  is  to  interfere  with  the  prosperity  of  up- 
right  citizen  mechanics,  or  diminish  the  incentive  to  an 
honest  and  industrious  pursuit  of  lawful  vocations.  But 
if  any  thing  could  induce  us  to  withhold  our  assist- 
ance  from  the  objects  contemplated  by  those  who  are 
seeking  to  effect  a  radical  change  in  the  plan  of  prison 
labour,  it  would  be  the  lawless  and  incendiary  conduct 
to  which  we  allude.  A  good  cause  can  never  need  to 
be  furthered  by  violence  and  outrage,  and  violence  and 
outrage  are  in  themselves  prima  facie  evidence  of  a  bad 
cause.  While  cut  stone,  or  any  other  materials  for  build- 
ing,  can  be  procured  cheaper  at  Sing  Sing  Prison  than 
elsewhere,  it  would  be  expecting  too  much  of  contractors 
to  ask  them  to  forego  the  advantage  thus  extended  to  them. 
To  buy  where  we  can  buy  cheapest,  and  sell  where  we 
can  sell  highest,  is  the  rule  of  all  traffic,  and  it  is  putting 
men  to  too  hard  a  test  when  they  are  required  to  correct, 
by  individual  forbearance,  what  should  be  provided  for  by 


64  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

a  general  law.  Besides,  even  if  those  who  erect  build 
ings  with  materials  purchased  at  the  prison  do  wrong,  and 
even  if  injury  inflicted  upon  their  private  property  be  the 
best  means  of  procuring  redress  (neither  of  which  propo 
sitions  is  tenable)  still  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
houses  which  they  build  pass  into  other  hands,  and  that,  in 
mutilating  them,  instead  of  injuring  those  whom  they 
consider  j  ustly  obnoxious  to  anger,  the  opponents  of  the 
State  Prison  Monopoly  may  in  reality  be  invading  the 
the  means  of  some  citizen  friendly  to  their  cause. 


THE  DIVISION  OF  PARTIES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  November  4, 1834.] 
Since  the  organization  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  the  people  of  this  country  have  been  divi 
ded  into  two  great  parties.  One  of  these  parties  has  un 
dergone  various  changes  of  name ;  the  other  has  con 
tinued  steadfast  alike  to  its  appellation  and  to  its  princi 
ples,  and  is  now,  as  it  was  at  first,  the  DEMOCRACY. 
Both  parties  have  ever  contended  for  the  same  opposite 
ends  which  originally  caused  the  division — whatever 
may  have  been,  at  different  times,  the  particular  means 
which  furnished  the  immediate  subject  of  dispute.  The 
great  object  of  the  struggles  of  the  Democracy  has  been 
to  confine  the  action  of  the  General  Government  within 
the  limits  marked  out  in  the  Constitution :  the  great  ob 
ject  of  the  party  opposed  to  the  Democracy  has  ever  been 
to  overleap  those  boundaries,  and  give  to  the  General 
Government  greater  powers  and  a  wider  field  for  their 
exercise.  The  doctrine  of  the  one  party  is  that  all  pow 
er  not  expressly  and  clearly  delegated  to  the  General 
Government,  remains  with  the  States  and  with  the  Peo 
ple  :  the  doctrine  of  the  other  party  is  that  the  vigour 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  65 

and  efficacy  of  the  General  Government  should  be 
strengthened  by  a  free  construction  of  its  powers.  The 
one  party  sees  danger  from  the  encroachments  of  the 
General  Government ;  the  other  affects  to  see  danger 
from  the  encroachments  of  the  States. 

This  original  line  of  separation  between  the  two 
great  political  parties  of  the  republic,  though  it  existed 
under  the  old  Confederation,  and  was  distinctly  marked 
in  the  controversy  which  preceded  the  formation  and 
adoption  of  the  present  Constitution,  was  greatly  widen 
ed  and  strengthened  by  the  project  of  a  National  Bank, 
brought  forward  in  1791.  This  was  the  first  great  ques 
tion  which  occurred  under  the  new  Constitution  to  test 
whether  the  provisions  of  that  instrument  were  to  be  in 
terpreted  according  to  their  strict  and  literal  meaning  ; 
or  whether  they  might  be  stretched  to  include  objects 
and  powers  which  had  never  been  delegated  to  the  Gen 
eral  Government,  and  which  consequently  still  resided 
with  the  states  as  separate  sovereignties. 

The  proposition  of  the  Bank  was  recommended  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  the  ground  that  such  an  in 
stitution  would  be  "  of  primary  importance  to  the  prosper 
ous  administration  of  the  finances,  and  of  the  greatest 
utility  in  the  operations  connected  with  the  support  of  pub 
lic  credit."  This  scheme,  then,  as  now,  was  opposed  on 
various  grounds  ;  but  the  constitutional  objection  consti 
tuted  then,  as  it  does  at  the  present  day,  the  main  reason  of 
the  uncompromising  and  invincible  hostility  of  the  de 
mocracy  to  the  measure.  They  considered  it  as  the  ex 
ercise  of  a  very  important  power  which  had  never  been 
given  by  the  states  or  the  people  to  the  General  Govern 
ment,  and  which  the  General  Government  could  not 
therefore  exercise  without  being  guilty  of  usurpation. 
Those  who  contended  that  the  Government  possessed  the 
power,  effected  their  immediate  object ;  but  the  contro- 
6* 


66  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

versy  still  exists.  And  it  is  of  no  consequence  to  tell 
the  democracy  that  it  is  now  established  by  various  pre 
cedents,  and  by  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  that 
this  power  is  fairly  incidental  to  certain  other  powers 
expressly  granted  ;  for  this  is  only  telling  them  that  the 
advocates  of  free  construction  have,  at  times,  had  the 
ascendancy  in  the  Executive  and  Legislative,  and,  at  all 
times,  in  the  Judiciary  department  of  the  Government. 
The  Bank  question  stands  now  on  precisely  the  same 
footing  that  it  originally  did  ;  it  is  now,  as  it  was  at  first, 
a  matter  of  controversy  between  the  two  great  parties  of 
this  country — between  parties  as  opposite  as  day  and 
night— ^-between  parties  which  contend,  one  for  the  conso 
lidation  and  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  General 
Government,  and  the  other  for  strictly  limiting  that 
Government  to  the  objects  for  which  it  was  instituted, 
and  to  the  exercise  of  the  means  with  which  it  was  en 
trusted.  The  one  party  is  for  a  popular  Government ; 
the  other  for  an  aristocracy.  The  one  party  is  compos 
ed,  in  a  great  measure,  of  the  farmers,  mechanics, 
labourers,  and  other  producers  of  the  middling  and  low 
er  classes,  (according  to  the  common  gradation  by  the 
scale  of  wealth,)  and  the  other  of  the  consumers,  the  rich, 
the  proud,  the  privileged — of  those  who,  if  our  Government 
were  converted  into  an  aristocracy,  would  become  our 
dukes,  lords,  marquises  and  baronets.  The  question  is 
still  disputed  between  these  two  parties — it  is  ever  a  new 
question — and  whether  the  democracy  or  the  aristocracy 
shall  succeed  in  the  present  struggle,  the  fight  will  be  re 
newed,  whenever  the  defeated  party  shall  be  again  able  to 
muster  strength  enough  to  take  the  field.  The  privilege 
of  self-government  is  one  which  the  people  will  never  be 
permitted  to  enjoy  unmolested.  Power  and  wealth  are 
continually  stealing  from  the  many  to  the  few.  There 
is  a  class  continually  gaining  ground  in  the  community, 
who  desire  to  monopolize  the  advantages  of  the  Govern- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  67 

ment,  to  hedge  themselves  round  with  exclusive  privileges, 
and  elevate  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people.  These,  in  our  society,  are  emphatically 
the  aristocracy  ;  and  these,  with  all  such  as  their  means 
of  persuasion,  or  corruption,  or  intimidation,  can  move  to 
act  with  them,  constitute  the  party  which  are  now  strug- 
ling  against  the  democracy,  for  the  perpetuation  of  an 
odious  and  dangerous  moneyed  institution. 

Putting  oat  of  view,  for  the  present,  all  other  objections 
to  the  United  States  Bank, — that  it  is  a  monopoly,  that 
it  possesses  enormous  and  overshadowing  power,  that  it 
has  been  most  corruptly  managed,  and  that  it  is  identified 
with  political  leaders  to  whom  the  people  of  the  United 
States  must  ever  be  strongly  opposed — the  constitutional 
objection  alone  is  an  insurmountable  objection  to  it. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  a  limited 
sovereignty.  The  powers  which  it  may  exercise  are  ex- 
pressly  enumerated  in  the  Constitution.  None  not  thus 
stated,  or  that  are  not  "  necessary  and  proper"  to  carry 
those  which  are  stated  into  effect,  can  be  allowed  to  be  ex 
ercised  by  it.  The  power  to  establish  a  bank  is  not  ex- 
pressly  given ;  neither  is  incidental ;  since  it  cannot  be 
shown  to  be  "  necessary"  to  carry  the  powers  which 
are  given,  or  any  of  them,  into  effect.  That  power  can- 
not  therefore  be  exercised  without  transcending  the  Con- 
stitutional  limits. 

This  i&  the  democratic  argument  stated  in  its  briefest 
form.  The  aristocratic  argument  in  favour  of  the 
power  is  founded  on  the  dangerous  heresy  that  the  Con- 
stitution  says  one  thing,  and  means  another.  That  ne 
cessary  does  not  mean  necessary,  but  simply  convenient. 
By  a  mode  of  reasoning  not  looser  than  this  it  would  be 
easy  to  prove  that  our  Government  ought  to  be  changed 
into  a  Monarchy,  Henry  Clay  crowned  King,  and  the  op- 
position  members  of  the  Senate  made  peers  of  the  realm  ; 


68  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

and   power,  place   and  perquisites  given  to  them  and 
their  heirs  forever. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  November  4, 1834  ] 
The  Aristocracy  are  exceedingly  anxious  to  divert  the 
attention  of  the  people  from  the  chief  object  of  their  war 
fare —  the  venerable  and  heroic  old  man  who  sits  at  the 
head  of  the  Government.  They  protest  that  their  efforts 
are  no  longer  directed  against  General  Jackson,  but  are 
now  aimed  against  Martin  Van  Buren.  But  this  pre 
tence  is  so  flimsy,  that  it  would  be  almost  insulting  the 
sagacity  of  our  readers  to  suppose  they  do  not  see 
through  it.  General  Jackson  is  the  object  of  the  direst 
hatred  of  the  Bank  tories.  It  is  his  measures  against 
the  United  States  Bank  which  have  excited  them  to 
such  ferocious  political  warfare  against  him.  It  is  his 
having  declared  the  Bank  to  be  unconstitutional,  dan 
gerous  to  our  liberties,  an  oppressive  burden  to  the  great 
body  of  people,  an  aristocratic  institution,  hedging  the 
rich  round  with  exclusive  privileges,  and  degrading  the 
condition  of  the  labouring  poor — it  is  for  having  declar 
ed  these  opinions,  and  acted  in  conformity  with  them, 
that  General  Jackson  is  hated  by  the  aristocracy,  and 
termed  a  usurper  and  a  despot,  a  cut-throat  and  a  villain. 
But  when,  in  the  course  of  his  whole  long  and  illustri 
ous  life,  has  Andrew  Jackson  ever  shown  the  disposition 
to  be  a  usurper  or  a  despot  ?  Was  it  in  New  Orleans, 
when,  after  having  saved  the  city  from  sack  and  pillage, 
even  in  spite  of  itself,  he  appeared  at  the  Bar  of  the 
Court,  at  one  and  the  same  moment  to  submit  to  its  de 
cision  and  to  protect  it  against  its  consequences  1  Was 
it  when,  as  the  Judge  was  about  to  adjourn  that  Court,  in 


WILLIAM.     LEGGETT.  69 

apprehension  of  the  just  indignation  of  the  people  whom 
he  had  saved,  the  war-worn  old  veteran  coolly  exclaim- 

ed "  There    is  no  danger  here ;  there  shall   be  none. 

The  person  who  protected  this  city  from  foreign  invaders, 
can  and  will  protect  this  Court,  or  die  in  the  attempt." 
And  the  old  veteran  spoke  the  truth.  The  people  were 
hushed,  and  suffered  him  to  be  fined  one  thousand  dol 
lars,  which  he  paid  on  the  spot,  and  for  which  he  re 
fused  to  be  remunerated  by  the  contributions  of  the  com 
munity.  Was  this  acting  like  a  despot  and  usurper  ? 

Was  he  a  despot,  when,  elected  by  the  people  to  the 
office  of  President,  he  recommended  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution,  giving  to  the  people  an  immediate  and 
direct  voice  in  the  selection  of  their  Chief  Magistrate, 
and  that  he  should  be  eligible  for  only  one  term  ?  Was 
this  tyranny— was  this  usurpation  ?  Was  he  the  enemy 
of  freedom,  when,  in  the  same  communication  to  Con- 
gress  he  urged  the  passing  of  a  law  providing  for  the  in 
troduction  of  the  principle  of  rotation  in  office,  and  secur 
ing  its  members  from  the  dangers  of  Executive  influence 
—his  own  influence ! — by  disqualifyng  themselves  from 
accepting  office  during  the  period  they  were  elected  to 
serve  the  people  ?  Was  this  usurpation  ;  or  did  it  savour 
of  a  disposition  to  extend  his  prerogatives  1 

The  whole  life  of  General  Jackson  has  been  one  of 
absolute  uncompromising  devotion  to  his  country.  He 
never  was  afraid  of  responsibility  when  he  was  in  jeopar 
dy.  He  did  not  stand  mooting  nice  points  of  political 
orthodoxy,  or  questioning  whether  he  was  right  or 
wrong,  when  the  ravager  was  on  her  shores,  and  the 
knife  at  her  bosom.  He  is  not  the  man  who,  when  he 
sees  his  friend,  his  wife,  or  his  country,  suffering  vio 
lence  or  injury,  will  stop  to  inquire  who  is  to  blame,  be 
fore  he  flies  to  the  rescue.  He  thinks  of  saving  them 
first,  and  in  his  honest  delight  of  having  succeeded,  for- 


70  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

gets  to  ask  the  particulars  of  the  quarrel.  Is  it  any 
der  that  the  honest,  warm-hearted,  clear-headed  people 
of  the  United  States  love,  and  trust,  and  venerate  this 
noble  old  man,  whose  redeemed  pledges  they  see  every 
day  before  them  ;  or  that  they  shut  their  ears  to  the 
mingled  yell  of  clamour  that  resounds  from  the  Holy 
Alliance  of  discords  ;  the  union  of  chemical  antipathies  ; 
the  mixture  of  oil  and  vinegar,  that  compose  the  hetero 
geneous  party  now  marshalled  under  "  old  Cacafoga  and 
his  money  bags  ?" 

And  now  he  stands  at  the  head  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
world,  fighting  its  battles,  and  stemming  the  tide  of  selfish 
interest  combined  with  unprincipled  ambition.  He  is 
there  as  the  leader  and  champion  of  the  people,  and  will 
the  people  desert  him?  He  is  now  putting  their  virtue 
and  their  patriotism  to  the  test.  He  is  now  trying  the  great 
experiment  whether  this  government  is  in  future  to  rest 
on  the  sordid  principle  of  gain,  or  the  sound  principles 
of  a  free  Constitution.  Every  appearance  demonstrates 
that  the  present  contest  is  one  which  will  inevitably  de 
cide  whether  the  rich  or  the  labouring  classes,  the  few 
or  the  many,  are  to  rule  this  wide  Confederation.  This 
is  the  great  cause  in  which  the  people  are  now  called  up 
on  by  every  tie  of  interest  and  honour  ;  by  their  present 
possessions  and  their  future  hopes  ;  by  the  memory  of 
their  fathers  and  prospects  of  their  children  ;  by  grati 
tude,  by  affection,  by  the  still  call  of  the  dead,  the  voice  of 
the  past,  the]  present,  and  the  future— the  cry  of  oppress 
ed  nations  looking  hitherward  for  the  result  of  all  their 
hopes — and  by  every  other  motive  that  can  influence  the 
actions  of  rational  intelligent  men,  to  rally  round  the  old 
hero,  and  stand  by  him,  as  he  has  stood  by  them.  One 
day  more  will  decide  whether  or  not  these  solemn  ap 
peals  have  been  addressed  to  them  in  vain. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  71 

MONOPOLIES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  November  20,  1834.] 
Want  of  time,  and  other  demands  on  our  space,  pre 
vented  us  yesterday  from  extending  our  article  on  the 
subject  of  Corporations,  so  as  to  embrace  a  reply  to  those 
points  in  the  remarks  of  the  Times*  which  seemed  to  us 
worthy  of  answer.  There  is  indeed  not  much  in  those 
remarks  which  absolutely  requires  notice  ;  for,  happily, 
the  Times  is  as  feeble  in  its  arguments  in  favour  of  a 
certain  class  of  monopolies,  as  it  is  unfortunate  in  the 
subject  it  has  chosen  on  which  to  vent  its  malignity 
against  the  Evening  Post.  But  as  the  question  which 
that  print,  siding  with  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  and 
echoing  its  heresies,  has  thought  proper  to  moot,  is  one 
of  great  intrinsic  importance,  it  may  not  be  altogether 
without  use  and  interest  to  take  up  its  article  of  yester 
day,  as  furnishing  an  occasion  of  some  further  exposition 
of  the  true  democratic  point  of  view  in  which  charters  of 
incorporation —  the  most  insidious  and  dangerous  form  of 
monopoly — ought  to  be  considered. 

The  Times  has  favoured  us  with  a  confession  of  faith  on 
the  subject  of  monopolies,  and  if  its  preaching  were  in  ac 
cordance  with  its  creed,  there  would  be'little  ground  of  dis 
pute,  for  it  would  seem  by  this  that  there  is  no  great  differ 
ence  between  us  on  general  principles.  The  Times  says  : 
"  The  Post  is  against  all  monopolies — so  are  we.  The 
Post  is  for  Equal  Rights — so  are  we.  The  Post  is  for 
the  suppression  of  small  notes,  and  a  reform  of  our  bank 
ing  system — so  are  we,  for  the  last  because  it  is  needed, 
and  for  the  first  because  the  notes  are  an  evil,  and  their 
extinction  is  essential  to  the  success  of  one  of  our  most 
important  measures  of  public  policy,  the  substitution  of 

*  The  Times  newspaper  has  long  since  ceased  to  exist,  and  there 
is  not  therefore  any  particular  reason  for  omitting  this  and  some 
other  articles  attacking  that  Journal. 


72  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

a  specie  currency.  The  Post  is  against  legislating  for 
the  benefit  of  individuals,  to  the  disadvantage  or  exclu- 
sion  of  others — so  are  we,  and  in  this  and  on  all  these 
points,  the  party  agrees  with  us." 

So  far,  so  good.  We  shall  pass  by  the  twaddle  about 
"  the  party  agreeing  with  us,"  which  is  mere  harmless 
impertinence  and  coxcombry  not  worth  reply.  We  shall 
pass  by,  too,  the  satisfactory  and  lucid  reason  stated  by 
the  Times  for  being  in  favour  of  "  a  reform  of  our  banking 
system."  We  gather,  then,  from  this  confession  of  faith 
that  the  Times  is  opposed  to  all  monopolies,  is  in  favour 
of  equal  rights,  believes  that  small  bank-notes  should  be 
suppressed,  the  banking  system  reformed,  and  legislation 
for  individuals,  to  the  disadvantage  or  exclusion  of  others, 
should  cease.  One  might  naturally  infer  from  all  this 
that  there  is  no  real  ground  of  controversy  between  us, 
and  that,  like  many  other  disputants,  we  have  been  argu 
ing  about  nothing.  But  when  the  Times  comes  to  ex 
plain  itself,  we  find,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  agree- 
ment  in  our  premises,  that  we  differ  very  widely  in  our 
conclusions.  It  is  against  all  monopolies  in  the  abstract, 
but  for  them  in  the  concrete.  It  is  opposed  to  charters 
of  incorporation  in  general,  but  advocates  them  in  parti 
cular.  It  is  in  short  against  exclusive  privileges  as  mo 
nopolies,  but  in  favour  of  them  as  means  of  effecting 
"  great  objects  of  public  utility,"  "  developing  vast 
resources,"  "  stimulating  industry,"  and  so  forth,  which 
is  only  a  repetition  of  the  stale  cant  which  has  been  used, 
time  out  of  mind,  by  those  who  desired  to  cheat  the  peo 
ple  out  of  their  rights  for  their  own  selfish  ends. 

The  Times  is  pleased  to  say  that  we  ride  the  doctrine 
of  monopolies  as  a  hobby.  We  might  retort  by  saying 
that  the  Times  rides  it  only  for  convenience,  and  just  as 
it  suits  its  purposes.  It  is  "  ride  and  tie  "  with  it.  One 
moment  it  is  on  horseback,  pricking  its  ambling  steed 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  73 

along ;  the  next  it  dismounts  and  turns  him  loose  to  graze 
on  the  common.  For  ourselves,  we  have  only  to  say, 
that  if  opposition  to  monopolies,  in  every  form  and  under 
every  disguise,  is  our  hobby,  it  is  because  we  honestly 
believe  them  to  be  the  most  sly  and  dangerous  enemies 
to  the  general  prosperity  that  ever  were  devised  by  inge 
nious  cupidity.  It  is  on  this  ground  we  have  opposed 
them  earnestly — it  is  on  this  ground  we  mean  to  oppose 
them,  with  all  our  ability,  until  the  evil  is  arrested,  or  we 
become  convinced  that  opposition  is  vain. 

Though  the  Times  professes  to  agree  with  us  in  the 
opinion  that  all  monopolies  are  infringements  upon  the 
equal  rights  of  the  people,  and  therefore  at  war  with  the 
spirit  of  our  government  and  institutions,  it  differs  widely 
with  us  in  its  definition.  It  separates  monopolies  from 
corporations,  and  its  idea  seems  to  be  that  monopolies 
must  be  entirely  exclusive,  or  they  are  not  monopolies. 
There  are  degrees  of  virtue  and  of  vice ;  there  are  degrees 
in  every  thing ;  but  according  to  the  Times  there  are 
none  in  the  nature  and  extent  of  monopolies.  These 
consist  in  extremes,  and  have  no  medium. 

Among  its  exceptions  are  railroad  incorporations, 
which  it  does  not  consider  as  belonging  to  the  great 
family  of  monopolies.  It  acknowledges  that  a  railroad 
may  be  a  monopoly — "a  speculation  for  the  profit  of  in 
dividuals,  not  required  by,  nor  likely  to  promote  the  pub 
lic  interest ; "  but,  on  the  other  hand,  to  meet  this  case, 
it  supposes  another,  in  order  to  show  that  a  railroad  com 
pany  may  be  incorporated  without  creating  a  monopoly. 
Extreme  cases  are  but  poor  arguments  ;  since  by  carrying 
any  right  or  principle  to  an  extreme,  it  may  be  made  to 
appear  vicious  and  unjust.  But  let  us  examine  the  sup 
posititious  case  which  the  Times  has  manufactured  to  jus 
tify  its  insidious  advocacy  of  monopolies.  We  copy  the 
whole  passage  : 
VOL.  I.— 7 


74  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

"  Suppose  Grand  Island  to  be  inhabited  by  twenty  peo- 
pie,  and  that  their  only  ferry  is  at  one  end  of  the  island. 
Suppose  that  they  have  no  good  road,  and  that  they  want 
a  railway  to  transport  their  produce  from  their  farms 
down  to  the  ferry.  No  one  of  them  is  rich  enough  to 
make  it,  but  the  whole  together  can,  provided  they  have 
an  act  of  incorporation  for  the  management  of  the  joint 
funds,  and  the  direction  of  the  work.  Suppose  the  Post 
to  be  the  legislature,  and  that  these  twenty  isolated  pro 
prietors  apply  for  a  charter  :  how  would  the  Post  reply  ? 
It  would  say,  "  there  is  certainly  nobody  concerned  in 
this  matter  but  yourselves,  and  the  work  would  benefit 
you  vastly,  but  if  no  one  of  you  is  wealthy  enough  to  con 
struct  it,  you  must  do  without — you  cannot  have  a  char- 
ter,ybr  I  oppose  monopolies,  and  every  act  of  incorpora 
tion  is  a  monopoly  !  " 

This  is  all  very  smart  and  very  convincing,  and  we 
only  wonder  that  the  Times  did  not  discover  that  it  had 
trumped  up  a  case  which  has  no  application  whatever  to 
the  matter  in  dispute.  The  twenty  inhabitants  of  Grand 
Island,  according  to  the  case  here  put,  constituted  a 
complete  community,  having  one  common  interest  in  the 
contemplated  railroad,  and  all  sharing  equally  in  its  ad 
vantages.  They  are,  so  far  as  respects  this  question,  a 
whole  people,  and  being  thus  united  in  one  common  bond 
of  interest,  the  rights  of  no  one  of  them  would  be  impair 
ed  by  the  whole  body  being  incorporated  for  any  common 
object.  This  supposititious  act  of  incorporation  bears  a 
strong  analogy  to  the  very  measure  of  legislation  which 
We  yesterday  spoke  of  as  the  proper  means  of  effecting 
those  objects  which  are  now  attained  by  partial  and  une 
qual  laws.  Instead  of  Grand  Island,  let  us  read  the 
State  of  New- York  ;  and  instead  of  an  act  of  incorpora. 
tion  for  a  specific  purpose  including  the  whole  population, 
let  us  suppose  a  law  applicable  to  all  purposes  for  which 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  75 

charters  could  be  asked,  under  which  any  set  of  individu 
als  might  associate,  and  we  have  at  once,  a  remedy  for 
the  evils  of  exclusive  charters — we  establish  a  system 
under  which  monopolies  cannot  exist. 

But  let  us  look  a  little  closer  at  the  railroad  incorpora,. 
tion  which  the  Times  wishes  to  bestow  on  the  twenty 
inhabitants  on  Grand  Island.  It  is  within  the  compass 
of  possibilities  that  the  population  of  Grand  Island,  parti, 
cularly  after  "  their  resources  should  be  developed,"  and 
"  their  industry  stimulated,"  by  an  act  of  incorporation, 
might  be  increased  by  emigration,  or  in  some  other  way. 
As  the  charter  was  conferred  exclusively  on  the  twenty 
original  inhabitants,  we  suppose  the  new  comers  would  be 
denied  the  benefits  of  the  railroad,  unless  they  paid  a  toll, 
or  contributed  an  equal  proportion  with  the  original 
proprietors.  Would  not  this  railroad  at  once  become  a 
monopoly,  and  as  such  be  open  to  all  the  objections  to 
corporations  of  this  kind  ? 

But  we  are  fighting  shadows.  Communities  cannot 
be  incorporated  except  under  laws  equally  applicable  to 
all  their  members  ;  and  the  idea  of  giving  society  at  large 
exclusive  privileges  is  an  absurdity.  A  law  which  is 
general  in  its  operation  cannot  confer  exclusive  privi 
leges.  The  fiction  of  a  whole  community  requiring  an 
act  of  incorporation  to  accomplish  an  object  of  public 
utility  is  equally  fanciful  and  original. 

The  Times  further  maintains  that  the  Evening  Post 
is  an  enemy  to  every  species  of  internal  improvement, 
and  that  the  position  it  has  taken  would  exclude  them  air 
together.  The  Post,  it  says,  will  allow  no  rich  man 
to  make  a  road  because  the  Post  upholds  equal  rights,  and 
will  not  permit  corporate  bodies  to  do  it ;  of  course  the 
people  must  go  without  roads.  Now  all  this  is  gratui* 
tous  assumption  both  of  facts  and  consequences. 

There  is  no  necessity  for  either  the  rich  man  or  the 


76  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

corporate  company  to  make  roads.  The  people  will  do 
it  themselves  ;  their  own  wants  and  convenience  will  im 
pel  them ;  and  as  their  requirements  and  means  increase, 
their  modes  of  conveyance  will  advance  accordingly.  A 
rich  man  may  hold  all  the  property  through  which  a  road 
is  to  pass — but  what  of  that  ?  He  cannot  impose  upon 
the  people  by  making  them  pay  to  pass  through  it.  The 
general  law  of  the  land  points  out  the  uniform  mode  of 
proceeding.  He  is  remunerated  by  being  paid  the  fair 
amount  of  his  injury,  and  taxed  his  full  share  of  the  ad 
vantages  derived  from  the  improvement.  There  is  here 
no  monopoly,  and  there  is  no  oppression,  because  every 
man's  property  is  liable  to  similar  contingencies. 

But  in  order  to  justify  this  great  system  of  monopoly 
in  disguise,  it  is  the  fashion  to  proclaim  from  the  house- 
tops  that  communities  can  do  nothing  in  their  combined 
capacity,  and  that  general  laws  are  insufficient  for  nearly 
every  purpose  whatever.  We  have  special  laws  and 
contrivances  interfering  with  and  infringing  the  common 
rights  of  individuals.  We  must  have  societies  of  all 
kinds,  for  every  special  purpose,  and  corporate  bodies  of 
every  name  and  device,  to  do  what  ought  not  to  be  done, 
or  what  the  community  can  well  dispense  with,  or  what 
they  could  as  well  do  for  themselves.  Nations,  states, 
and  cities  can  do  nothing  now-a-days,  without  the  agency 
of  monopolies  and  exclusive  privileges.  Nor  can  indi 
viduals  « beneficially  employ  capital,"  unless  they  are 
inspired  by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  and  a  prospect  of 
exorbitant  profits,  such  is  "  the  progress  of  the  age  and 
the  march  of  intellect." 

We  need  not  say  again  that  we  are  not  an  enemy  of 
public  improvements — such- as  are  equally  beneficial  to 
the  whole  of  that  community  which  bears  an  equal  pro 
portion  of  the  expense  which  they  cost.  But  we  are  for 
putting  such  improvements  on  the  footing  of  county  roads 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  77 

and  other  municipal  undertakings.  The  people  who  are 
to  be  exclusively  benefitted  may  make  them  if  they  please, 
and  if  they  do  not  please  they  may  let  it  alone.  In  our 
opinion  it  is  paying  at  too  dear  a  rate  for  quick  travelling 
through  New-Jersey  to  purchase  it  at  the  price  of  depriv 
ing  the  citizens  of  that  state,  not  members  of  a  certain 
railroad  company,  of  the  right  to  make  another  railroad 
from  New- York  to  Philadelphia.  By  such  a  system  of 
legislation,  the  sovereign  people  of  a  whole  state  are  de 
prived  of  their  equal  rights. 

But  it  is  our  custom  to  treat  all  great  political  subjects 
on  broad  and  general  principles,  from  which  alone  gen 
eral  conclusions  can  be  derived.  A  superficial  or  partial 
comparison  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  a  cer 
tain  course  of  legislation  furnishes  a  poor  criterion  from 
which  to  strike  the  balance  ;  because  it  is  wholly  impos 
sible  for  the  ripest  experience,  aided  by  the  most  saga- 
cious  intellect  to  see  and  weigh  everything  connected 
with  the  subject  of  discussion.  We  must  resort  to  gen 
eral  principles. 

The  question  between  the  Times  and  the  Evening 
Post,  then,  is  not  whether  an  act  of  incorporation  may 
not  be  passed  by  a  legislative  body  from  the  purest  mo 
tives  of  public  good,  nor  whether  the  public  good  may 
not  in  some  instances  be  promoted  by  such  an  act.  The 
true  question  is  whether  all  history,  all  experience,  nay, 
the  very  nature  of  man,  does  not  support  the  position 
that  this  power  of  granting  privileges,  either  wholly  or 
partially  exclusive,  is  not  one  that  has  always  led,  and,  as 
we  have  thence  a  right  to  infer,  will  always  lead,  not 
only  to  corruption  and  abuse,  but  to  either  open  or  secret 
infringements  of  the  sanctity  of  Equal  Rights  ?  This  is 
the  only  question  worthy  of  a  high-minded  and  patriotic 
politician.  It  is  not  whether  the  practice  may  not  occa- 
sionally  lead  to  public,  or  social,  or  individual  benefit ; 
7* 


78  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

but  whether  it  has  not  in  the  past  been  made,  and  whe 
ther  it  will  not  in  the  future  be  made  again,  the  fruitful 
source  of  those  inequalities  in  human  condition — those 
extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty,  so  uniformly  fatal  to  the 
liberties  of  mankind. 

Our  pen  has  been  often  employed,  and  we  trust  not 
wholly  without  effect,  in  pointing  out  and  illustrating  the 
evil  consequences  of  this  system  of  bartering  away  the 
reserved  rights  of  the  great  mass  of  the  community,  in 
exchange  for  public  bonusses  and  private  douceurs,  either 
direct  or  indirect,  or  in  furtherance  of  political  views. 
This  system  has  deranged  the  whole  organization  of  so 
ciety,  destroyed  its  equilibrium,  and  metamorphosed  a 
government  the  fundamental  principle  of  which  is  equal 
rights  to  every  free  citizen,  to  one  of  EQUAL  WRONGS  to 
every  class  that  does  not  directly  share  in  its  monopo 
lies. 

We  neither  wish  to  pull  down  the  rich,  nor  to  bolster 
them  up  by  partial  laws,  beneficial  to  them  alone,  and 
injurious  to  all  besides.  We  have  repeated,  again  and 
again,  that  all  we  desire  is,  that  the  property  of  the  rich 
may  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  the  labours  of  the 
poor.  We  do  not  incorporate  the  different  -  classes  of 
tradesmen,  to  enable  them  to  dictate  to  their  employers 
the  rate  of  their  wages  ;  we  do  not  incorporate  the  farm 
ers  to  enable  them  to  establish  a  price  for  their  products; 
and  why  then  should  we  incorporate  moneyed  men  (or 
men  having  only  their  wits  for  a  capital)  with  privileges 
and  powers  that  enable  them  to  control  the  value  of  the 
poor  man's  labour,  and  not  only  the  products  of  the  land, 
but  even  the  land  itself  ? 

If  the  Times  will  answer  these  questions,  we  are  willing 
to  discuss  the  subject,  step  by  step,  in  all  its  important 
relations.  But  if  it  shall  continue  to  lay  down  positions 
but  to  explain  them  away,  like  the  boy  who  blows  a  bub- 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  79 

ble  only  for  the  pleasure  of  dissipating  it  by  a  breath,  we 
shall  not  feel  bound  to  pursue  the  subject  in  a  controver 
sial  form.  The  weathercock  must  remain  stationary  for 
at  least  a  moment,  before  we  can  tell  which  way  the  wind 
blows.  The  ship  which,  without  rudder  or  compass,  yaws 
and  heaves  about,  the  sport  of  every  impulse  of  the  ele 
ments,  can  scarcely  be  followed  in  her  devious  course  by 
the  most  skilful  navigator. 


ASYLUM  FOR  INSANE  PAUPERS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Nov.  28.] 

We  have  received  a  copy  of  a  circular  letter  on  the 
subject  of  a  recommendation  made  by  Governor  JVIarcy 
to  the  Legislature,  at  its  last  session,  that  an  Asylum  for 
Insane  Paupers  should  be  erected,  at  the  expense  of  the 
State.  A  select  committee  was  charged  with  the  sub- 
ject,  which  reported  favourably  on  the  project ;  but  the 
legislature  adjourned  without  acting  upon  it.  We  trust 
they  will  adjourn  again  without  acting  affirmatively  on 
any  such  scheme. 

The  taking  care  of  the  insane  is  no  part  of  the  business 
of  the  state  government.  The  erecting  of  such  an  Asy 
lum  as  is  proposed,  and  the  appointment  of  the  various 
officers  to  superintend  it,  would  be  placing  a  good  deal 
more  power — where  there  is  already  too  much — into  the 
hands  of  the  state  executive,  to  be  used  honestly  or  cor 
ruptly,  for  good  or  evil,  as  these  qualities  should  happen 
to  predominate  in  his  character,  or  as  the  temptations  to 
use  his  official  patronage  for  his  own  aggrandizement  or 
profit  might  be  strong  or  weak.  We  are  continually 
Buffering,  under  one  pretence  or  other,  these  pilferings  of 
power  from  the  people. 

The  circular  to  which  we  have  alluded  appeals  strongly 


80  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

to  the  sympathies  of  its  readers.  It  presents  a  deplora 
ble  and  harrowing  picture  of  the  miseries  endured  by  in 
sane  paupers  in  the  poor-houses  of  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire,  and  intimates  that  their  condition  is  no 
better  in  many  counties  of  this  state.  If  this  is  so,  the 
evil  ought  to  be  investigated  and  remedied  ;  but  not  in 
the  method  proposed,  by  the  erection  of  a  splendid  state 
Asylum.  The  people  ought  not  to  suffer  their  judgment 
to  be  led  away  by  their  sympathies.  They  cannot  be  too 
jealous  of  the  exercise  of  unnecessary  powers  by  the 
state  government.  The  nearer  they  keep  all  power  to 
their  own  hands,  and  the  more  entirely  under  their  own 
eyes,  the  more  secure  are  they  in  their  freedom  and 
equal  rights. 

We  would  have  destitute  lunatics  taken  care  of,  but 
not  under  the  charge  or  at  the  expense  of  the  state  go 
vernment.  It  ought  to  be  one  of  the  leading  objects  of 
the  democracy  of  this  country  for  many  years  to  come  to 
diminish  the  power  of  the  general  and  several  state  go 
vernments,  not  to  increase  it.  On  the  subject  of  legisla 
tion  for  paupers  they  ought  to  be  particularly  vigilant. 
In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  and  we  believe  we  might  say 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred,  poor-laws  make  more  pover 
ty  than  they  alleviate.  If  the  reader  has  ever  employed 
himself  in  tracing  the  history  of  the  poor-laws  in  Eng 
land,  he  will  not  require  any  proof  of  this  assertion  ;  if 
he  has  not,  he  could  scarcely  turn  his  thoughts  to  a  sub 
ject  more  rife  with  matters  of  serious  interest. 

Lunatic  paupers  ought  certainly  to  be  taken  care  of. 
Both  charity  and  self-protection  require  this.  But  we 
would  remove  this  guardianship  as  far  from  government 
as  possible.  Each  county  should  certainly  provide  for 
its  own ;  each  township  would  be  better,  and  if  it  were 
practicable  to  narrow  it  down  to  the  kindred  of  the  in 
sane  persons,  it  would  be  better  still.  As  a  general  rule, 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  81 

all  public  charities,  except  for  the  single  purpose  of  pro 
moting  education,  are  founded  on  erroneous  principles, 
and  do  infinitely  more  harm  than  good.  See  that  the 
people  are  educated,  and  then  leave  every  man  to  take 
care  of  himself  and  of  those  who  have  a  natural^claim  on 
his  protection.  We  have  many  large  charities  in  this 
community,  founded  in  the  most  amiable  and  benevolent 
motives,  that  annually  add  very  largely  to  the  sum  of 
human  misery,  by  ill-judged  exertions  to  relieve  it. 

The  picture  of  the  wretched  condition  of  lunatic  pau 
pers,  as  presented  in  the  circular  before  us,  is  certainly 
very  touching,  but  legislators  must  not  be  blinded  by 
tears  to  the  true  and  permanent  interests  of  man.  They 
must  let  their  feelings  of  commiseration  take  counsel  of 
the  pauser  judgment.  They  must  look  at  the  subject  in 
all  its  bearings  and  aspects,  before  they  saddle  the  peo 
ple  in  their  collective  capacity  with  another  tax,  and 
place  the  revenue  so  instituted  at  the  disposal  of  an  exe 
cutive  officer,  who  may  expend  it  with  a  view  to  advance 
his  private  ends. 

We  have  said  that  the  account  given  of  the  sufferings 
of  these  pauper  lunatics  is  touching  ;  yet  it  would  be  easy 
to  draw  as  touching  a  picture,  and  as  true  too,  of  the 
sufferings  of  sane  paupers.  Indeed,  with  many,  what  a 
horrible  aggravation  to  their  sufferings  their  very  sanity 

must  be, 

"  Which  but  supplies  a  feeling  to  decay  !" 

The  lunatics  are  by  no  means  the  most  unhappy  class  of 
paupers,  as  a  class.  Insanity  comes  to  many  as  a  friend 
in  their  deepest  affliction,  to  mitigate  the  tortures  of  a 
wounded  spirit — to 

Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow ; 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain, 
And,  with  a  sweet  oblivious  antidote, 
Cleanse  the  stuffed  bosom  of  the  perilous  stuff 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart. 


82  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

Those  who  are  sick  and  desolate  ;  who  have  fallen  from 
a  high  estate  —  fallen  by  their  own  folly,  perhaps,  and 
therefore  experience  the  gnawings  of  remorse,  or  fallen 
in  consequence  of  the  ingratitude  or  treachery  of  others, 
may  easily  be  supposed  to  experience  keener  anguish 
than  the  demented  inmates  of  the  same  abode  ;  since  the 
worst  pain  man  suffers  has  its  seat  in  the  mind,  not  in  the 
body  ;  and  from  that  species  of  affliction  the  crazy  are 
exempt.  If  this  scheme  of  a  grand  state  lunatic  asylum 
should  be  carried  into  effect,  we  see  no  reason  why  next 
we  should  not  have  a  grand  state  poor-house,  for  the  re- 
ception  of  all  paupers  who  had  not  lost  their  wits.  Other 
large  state  charities  would  probably  follow,  and  one  abuse 
of  government  would  step  upon  the  heels  of  another. 
The  system  is  all  wrong  from  beginning  to  end.  We 
are  governed  too  much.  Let  the  people  take  care  of  them, 
selves  and  of  their  own  sick  and  insane,  each  community 
for  itself.  Let  them,  above  all  things,  be  extremely  cau 
tious  in  surrendering  power  into  the  hands  of  the  govern 
ment,  of  any  kind,  or  for  any  purpose  whatever,  for  go 
vernments  never  surrender  power  to  the  people.  What 
they  get  is  theirs  "  to  have  and  to  hold,"  ay,  and  to  exer 
cise  too,  to  the  fullest  extent,  nor  is  it  often  got  back  from 
them,  till  their  grasp  is  opened  with  the  sword. 

Our  remarks  are  cursory  and  loose,  perhaps,  as  this 
article  has  been  written  in  the  midst  of  more  than  usual 
interruptions.  Let  the  reader  not  thence  infer,  however, 
that  we  have  taken  ground  on  this  subject  hastily ;  for 
such  is  not  the  fact.  The  plan  recommended  by  Gover 
nor  Marcy  last  winter,  has  frequently  occupied  our 
thoughts,  and  in  every  light  in  which  we  have  viewed  it 
has  appeared  to  us  to  deserve  the  opposition  of  the  demo 
cratic  members  of  the  legislature.  We  are  for  giving  as 
few  powers  to  government  as  possible,  and  as  small  an 
amount  of  patronage  to  dispense.  Let  the  aristocracy 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  83 

advocate  a  strong  government ;   we   are  for  a  strong 
people. 

MONOPOLIES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Nov.  29.] 
"  TO  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  EVENING  POST. 

"  I  have  read  attentively  the  views  expressed  in  your 
paper  on  the  subject  of  "  monopolies,"  and  I  agree  with 
you  to  some  extent,  but  I  am  not  certain  that  I  under 
stand  how  far  the  practical  detail  may  interfere  with  the 
general  principle.  This  may  be  tested  by  some  cases  in 
point.  I  take  the  first  notice  from  the  Journal  of  Com 
merce,  and  the  others  from  the  Albany  Argus. 
[Here  follow  notices  of  applications  for  incorporations.'] 

"  You  will  perceive  here  are  four  distinct  objects  pro- 
posed  to  be  accomplished.  That  the  public  may  know 
how  your  theories  are  to  be  reduced  to  practice,  I  request 
that  you  will  say  how  the  members  from  this  city,  under 
their  pledge  as  honourable  men,  are  to  vote  on  these  gene 
ral  propositions  ;  and  secondly,  how  you  would  vote  as  a 
legislator  without  any  pledge. 

"  AN  HONEST  INQUIRER." 

We  have  witnessed  with  regret,  and  we  may  add  with 
surprise,  that,  notwithstanding  the  recent  clearly  and 
strongly  expressed  sentiment  of  the  great  body  of  the 
democracy  of  this  state  against  all  monopolies,  of  every 
kind  and  degree,  a  number  of  notices,  like  those  quoted 
by  our  correspondent,  have  already  appeared  in  the  pub 
lic  papers.  There  can  be  no  sort  of  question  that  one  of 
the  chief  points  which  the  great  body  of  the  democratic 
voters  meant  to  decide  by  their  suffrages  in  the  recent 
contest,  was  that  there  should  be  no  more  monopolies 
created  by  our  legislature.  And  there  can  be  no  sort  of 
question  either,  that  in  the  term  monopoly,  according  to 


84  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

the  understanding  of  the  democratic  party,  all  acts  of  in 
corporation  were  included. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this  was  the  universal  un 
derstanding  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  never  the  case,  in  a  poli 
tical  contest  which  turns  on  a  variety  of  questions,  that 
the  whole  body  of  voters  are  governed  by  absolute  coin 
cidence  of  sentiment  on  every  particular  subject.  But 
we  do  mean  to  say,  and  we  think  no  one  will  dispute, 
that  those  who  gave  the  latitude  of  meaning  to  the  word 
monopoly  which  we  have  here  expressed,  were  at  least 
much  more  numerous  than  the  excess  of  votes  in  favour 
of  Governor  Marcy  over  Mr.  Seward  ;  and  further,  that 
had  it  been  announced,  from  any  authentic  source,  pre 
vious  to  the  election,  that  the  candidates  of  the  demo 
cracy  for  legislative  office  would,  on  being  elected,  vote 
for  any  act  of  incorporation  whatever,  they  never  would 
have  had  the  opportunity  of  imposing  any  such  contem 
plated  additional  fetters  on  the  body  politic. 

The  success  of  the  democratic  ticket  in  a  majority  of 
the  republican  counties,  was  clearly  owing,  in  our  view  of 
the  subject,  to  the  belief  that  all  exclusive  and  partial  le 
gislation  would  cease,  if  the  democracy  succeeded  ;  that 
laws  would  be  made  for  the  whole  people,  not  for  a  part ; 
and  that  the  great  fundamental  principle  of  our  republic, 
the  equal  rights  of  all,  would  be  their  governing  rule  of 
action.  It  is  to  this  conviction  we  owe  our  success ; 
and  if  this  conviction  had  been  destroyed  by  the  promul 
gation  of  such  sentiments  before  the  election,  as  have 
since  been  expressed  in  certain  degenerate  prints,  those 
who  are  now  informed  that  the  term  monopoly  applies 
only  to  such  laws  as  no  one  ever  dreamed  would  be  pass 
ed,  and  are  called  upon  to  act  accordingly  in  the  legisla 
ture,  would  still  have  occupied  a  private  station. 

But  independent  of  this  consideration,  we  hold  it  to  be 
demonstrable,  (and  we  think  we  have  not  fallen  far  short 


WILLIAMLEGGETT.  65 

of  demonstration  in  our  various  articles  on  the  subject,) 
that  all  acts  of  partial  legislation  are  undemocratic ;  that 
they  are  subversive  of  the  equal  rights  of  men  ;  are  calcu 
lated  to  create  artificial  inequality  in  human  condition ; 
to  elevate  the  few  and  depress  the  many  :  and,  in  their 
final  operation,  to  build  up  a  powerful  aristocracy,  and 
overthrow  the  whole  frame  of  democratic  government. 

In  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  consider  it  the  duty  of 
every  democratic  legislator,  however  much  or  little  he 
may  consider  the  disputed  word  monopoly  to  compre 
hend,  to  set  himself  firmly  against  every  attempt  to  ob 
tain  new  charters  of  incorporation,  or  to  enlarge  the  term 
or  conditions  of  old  ones.  Whether  he  thinks  himself 
positively  instructed  or  not,  by  the  terms  of  his  county 
resolutions,  to  oppose  every  bill  of  incorporation,  no  one 
will  pretend  that  he  has  been  instructed  to  advocate  such 
a  bill,  and  he  is  therefore  certainly  under  the  general 
obligation  to  oppose  every  measure  of  anti-democratic 
character  or  tendency.  The  man,  then,  who,  pretending 
to  represent  democratic  constituents,  shall  yet  cast  his 
suffrage,  or  exercise  his  influence,  in  favour  of  a  single 
application  for  corporate  powers,  or  shall  refrain  from 
exerting  himself  to  defeat  such  an  application,  will  be  un 
faithful  to  his  trust,  to  his  country,  and  to  the  principles 
of  liberty,  and  will  richly  deserve  to  be  held  up.  in  the 
strongest  language  which  indignant  patriotism  can  use, 
to  the  scorn  of  his  fellow-men.  On  such  a  gibbet  we 
shall  surely  do  all  in  our  power  to  hang  such  a  traitor, 
if  any  such  there  shall  be  found,  which  we  hope  and 
trust  there  may  not. 

Is  our  correspondent  answered  ?  As  to  the  duty  of  our 
city  delegation,  there  is  not  the  slightest  room  for  ques 
tion.  They  are  PLEDGED  to  oppose,  with  all  their  might, 
all  monopolies  ;  and  happily  the  terms  of  the  pledge  have 
not  left  the  word  monopoly  of  dubious  import.  By  spe- 
VOL.  I.— 8 


86  POLITICAL    WRITINGS    OF 

cifying  Insurance  Corporations,  which  are  as  useful  ia 
their  favourable  features,  and  as  little  objectionable  in 
their  unfavourable,  as  any  description  of  corporations 
whatever  —  by  specifying  these  as  one  of  the  most  ob 
noxious  kinds  of  monopolies,  the  phrase  clearly  embraces 
corporate  institutions  of  every  kind  and  name.  Should, 
then,  any  member  of  our  city  delegation,  being  thus 
pledged,  vote  for  any  monopoly  within  the  comprehensive 
signification  fixed  by  the  obligation  he  subscribed,  he 
would  not  only  be  unfaithful  to  his  party  and  to  republi 
can  principles,  but  a  fore-sworn  caitiff,  worse  even  than 
Dudley  Selden,  if  worse  can  be. 

But  we  have  no  fear  that  the  democracy  of  our  metro 
polis  have  cherished  any  such  viper  in  their  bosom. 
We  look  not  to  see  any  of  our  delegates  seek  to  escape 
from  their  honourable  obligations  through  any  flaw 
which  the  Times  may  try  to  discover  in  their  pledge. 
We  look  not  to  see  them  skulk  behind  a  quibble,  or  palter 
with  their  constituents  in  a  double  sense.  We  expect 
rather  that  they  will  exhibit  a  noble  emulation  in  carry 
ing  into  effect  the  spirit  of  that  condition.  We  expect  to 
see  them  all  eager  to  identify  themselves  with  the  leading 
doctrines  of  the  democracy  in  the  present  struggle  with 
aristocratic  opponents  of  equal  liberty  and  laws,  and  each 
striving  to  outdo  the  others  in  the  strenuousness  of  his 
hostility  to  exclusive  privileges,  partial  legislation,  or 
whatever  endangers,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  founda 
tion  principle  of  our  political  fabric,  the  equal  rights  of 
mankind. 


WILLIAM     LJSGGETT 


MONOPOLIES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Nov.  29,  1834.] 
The  Journal  of  Commerce  protests  that  it  has  not  haul 
ed  down  its  flag,  but  joins  its  co-labourer  the  Times,  in 
insisting  we  ourselves  are  used  up.     "  We  thought  it  un 
necessary  to  proceed  further  with  the  discussion,  because 
the  whole  ground  had  been  gone  over,  and  we  believed 
the  wrong  doctrines  of  the  Post  sufficiently  refuted."     So 
says  the  Journal  of  Commerce.     How  complete  this  refu 
tation  is,   our  readers  are  qualified  to  judge,  since  we 
have  placed  its  several  articles  before  them,  some  in 
whole,  and  some  in  substance.     The  Journal  admits  that 
its  "  fifty  dollar  "  argument  "  is  just  as  good  in  relation 
to  packeting  as  banking."     It  is  just  as  good,  then,  in 
relation  to  any  other  business.     For  instance,  one  of  the 
bubbles  that  accompanied  the  airy  flight  of  the  famous 
south-sea  bubble,  and  exploded   about   the   same   time, 
though  with  less  noise  and  devastation,  was  called  "  the 
Spanish  Jackass  Company."     Now,   by  carrying  out  the 
idea  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  a  New-York  Jackass 
Company  might  be  incorporated,  and  the  Editor  of  the 
Journal  of  Commerce,  by  buying  fifty  dollars'  worth  of 
stock,  might  stand  a  fair  chance  to  be  chosen  president. 
The  stock  of  a  company  of  that  description  might  be  ex 
pected  to  be  very  popular  among  a  certain  political  party 
to  which  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  in  some  measure,  be 
longs  ;  and  it  might  all  be  taken  up  before  one-tenth  of 
the  applicants  were  supplied.     Would  not  the  disappoint 
ed  nine-tenths,  as   they  wended   their  way  homeward, 
with  their  fifty  dollars  apiece  in  their  breeches'  pockets, 
have  reason  to  exclaim  that  there  was  something  partak. 
ing  of  the  character  of  exclusiveness  in  this  Jackass 
Company  ?     And  suppose  the  Editor  of  the  Journal  of 


POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

Commerce,  despite  his  claims,  should  receive  no  appor 
tionment  of  stock,  would  he  not  begin  to  think  that  there 
was  some  truth  in  the  complaint  against  monopolies  ? 

But  badinage  apart,  we  are  surprised  that  the  Journal 
of  Commerce  does  not  perceive  that  it  makes  no  differ- 
ence  in  the  principle  of  the  thing  whether  the  stock  of  an 
incorporated  Company  is  divided  into  fifty  dollar  shares, 
or  five  thousand  dollar  shares.  Of  whatever  amount  the 
subdivisions  may  be,  but  a  small  portion  of  the  commu 
nity  can  receive  any  at  the  original  allotment,  and  but  a 
small  portion  of  them  could  receive  any,  if  the  Journal 
of  Commerce's  favourite  plan  of  selling  the  shares  by 
auction  were  adopted.  When  the  pitcher  is  full  it  will 
hold  no  more  ;  and  when  the  shares  were  all  apportioned 
or  sold,  disappointed  applicants  could  not  expect  to  get 
any.  The  corporation  would  then  be  a  monopoly  enjoy 
ed  by  the  successful  applicants  ;  and  whether  their  num 
ber  was  five  or  five  thousand,  they  would  possess  "  exclu 
sive  privileges  "  nevertheless,  and  would  be  the  benefi 
ciaries  of  unequal  legislation. 

It  is  an  error  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce  to  say,  that 
the  practical  operation  of  corporations  is  to  "  take  privi 
leges,  which  would  otherwise  be  monopolized  by  the  rich, 
and  divide  them  into  such  small  parts,  that  every  one 
who  has  fifty  dollars  may  be  interested,  upon  equal  terms 
of  advantage  with  the  most  wealthy."  In  practice,  the 
operation  of  the  thing  is  quite  the  reverse.  "  Kissing 
goes  by  favour,"  in  those  operations.  Large  capitalists 
get  all  the  stock  they  ask  for,  and  poor  men  get  but  a  part, 
if  any,  that  they  solicit.  There  are  published  lists  of 
apportionments  to  which  we  can  refer  the  Journal  of 
Commerce.  But  the  fact  is  notorious.  And  moreover, 
it  is  notorious,  that  this  pretended  division  of  stock  has 
even  much  less  of 'fairness  and  honesty  about  it  than 
would  seem  by  the  face  of  things.  Many  of  the  appli- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  89 

cants  who  get  large  apportionments  are  men  of  straw, 
mere  catspaws,  thrust  forward  to  answer  the  purpose  of 
some  great  capitalist,  for  whom  the  stock  is  really  pro- 
cured.  We  could  name  instances,  if  it  were  necessary. 
We  have  not  come  to  this  subject  without  being  furnish 
ed  with  ample  means  of  establishing  our  arguments. 
There  is  the  veiy  last  bank  that  went  into  operation — 
was  the  stock  of  that  incorporation  divided  to  fifty  dollar 
applicants  ?  Is  it  not,  on  the  contrary,  a  fact,  that  a  con 
trolling  interest  is  in  the  hands  of  a  single  individual,  who 
is  represented  by  his  puppets  —  we  beg  their  pardon,  his 

proxios in  the  directory  1     Nor  is  that  bank  a  solitary 

instance,  as  the  Journal  of  Commerce  well  knows. 

But  if  the  argument  were  true,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
that  «  fifty  dollar  men  "  can  become  bankers,  and  life- 
insurers,  and  packet-owners,  and  so  on,  it  would  still  not 
be  a  good  argument  in  favour  of  special  acts  of  incorpo 
ration  for  these  several  purposes  ;  because  these  special 
acts  would  each  embrace  but  a  small  portion  of  the  com- 
munity,  and  all  special  or  partial  legislation  is,  in  its  very 
nature,  anti-republican  and  invasive  of  equal  rights. 
Let  capital  and  industry  alone  to  find  their  own  chan 
nels.  This  is  the  true  principle  to  act  upon.  If  any 
additional  legislation  is  necessary,  let  it  be  legislation 
that  shall  embrace  the  whole  body  politic,  and  every 
variety  of  laudable  enterprise.  The  "  fifty  dollar"  argu- 
ment  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce  might  with  much  more 
propriety  be  put  forward  in  support  of  a  general  law  of 
joint  stock  partnerships,  than  in  support  of  the  everlast- 
ing  iteration  of  special  acts  of  incorporation,  where 
every  succeeding  set  of  applicants  are  striving  to  get 
some  privileges  or  advantages  not  conferred  by  previous 
charters,  and,  to  effect  their  selfish  and  unjust  ends,  re 
sorting  to  all  the  arts  of  collusion  and  corruption.  Under 
a  general  law,  not  merely  "  fifty  dollar  men,"  but  twenty 
8* 


90  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

dollar  men,  and  one  dollar  men,  might  if  they  pleased 
place  their  means  in  the  joint  funds  of  an  association  to 
effect  some  great  enterprise.  Such  a  law  would  be  the 
very  measure  to  enable  poor  men  to  compete  with  rich. 
As  it  is,  let  the  Journal  of  Commerce  say  what  it  may, 
acts  of  incorporation  are  chiefly  procured  by  the  rich  and 
for  the  rich.  What  claims  have  your  William  Bards  or 
your  Nathaniel  Primes  on  the  country,  that  our  legisla 
ture  should  spend  their  time  in  making  laws  for  their 
exclusive  or  particular  advantage  ?  Did  we  cast  our 
suffrages  into  the  ballot-boxes  to  select  legislative  factors 
for  those  men,  or  such  men  ?  Let  them  have  their  equal 
rights,  but  let  them  have  no  more. 

The  Journal  of  Commerce  seems  to  think  our  reason 
ing  involves  a  contradictiqn,  because  we  oppose  special 
acts  of  incorporations  or  monopolies,  and  yet  would  ex 
tend  incorporations  indefinitely.  We  have  not  said  we 
would  extend  corporations  indefinitely ;  yet  if  corpora 
tions  were  extended  indefinitely,  there  would  be  no  mo 
nopoly  ;  since  when  every  member  of  the  community 
has  precisely  the  same  opportunities  of  employ  ing  capital 
and  industry  given  to  him  by  the  laws  which  every  other 
member  has,  there  is  no  exclusive  privilege,  and  no  inva 
sion  of  equal  rights.  But  it  is  an  error  in  terms  to  say 
that  we  advocate  the  indefinite  extension  of  corporations, 
since  the  very  nature  of  a  corporation,  is  to  be  endowed 
with  special  privileges.  We  shall  not  dispute  about 
words,  however,  if  we  can  bring  the  Journal  of  Com 
merce  to  agree  with  us  about  principles.  The  act  of 
incorporation,  then,  which  we  should  desire  to  see  pass 
ed,  would  be  an  act  incorporating  the  whole  population 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  every  possible  lawful  pur 
pose  to  which  money  or  human  labour,  or  ingenuity,  is 
ever  applied,  with  a  clause  admitting  to  a  full  commu 
nion  of  the  benefits  of  the  body  corporate,  every  indivi- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  91 

dual  who  should  at  any  future  time  become  a  member  of 
the  body  politic. 


MONOPOLIES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  November,  1834.] 
WHAT  have  the  People,  the  Democracy,  been  strug 
gling  for  in  the  last  election  ?  Was  it  merely  to  satisfy 
a  personal  predilection  in  favour  of  a  few  leaders,  and  to 
gratify  a  personal  dislike  to  a  few  others ;  or  was  it  for 
certain  great  principles,  combined  in  the  one  great  gen 
eral  term  of  EQUAL  RIGHTS  ?  As  to  ourselves,  and  we 
believe  we  speak  the  sentiment  of  a  great  majority  of 
those  who  acted  with  us,  we  answer  unhesitatingly,  not 
for  men  but  principles ;  not  for  Messrs.  Cambreleng, 
White,  Moore,  Morgan,  McKeon,  and  others,  whatever 
we  may  think  of  them  as  individuals,  but  because  they 
have  pledged  themselves  to  the  support  of  Equal  Rights, 
and  to  an  opposition  to  monopolies  and  exclusive  privi 
leges. 

Yet  the  Times  in  effect  denies  and  repudiates  our  doc 
trine,  that  every  species  of  corporate  body  created  for 
the  purposes  of  gain,  and  gifted  with  privileges  which 
others  do  not  and  cannot  possess  or  exercise,  is  in  its  na 
ture  and  consequences  an  infringement  on  the  Equal 
Rights  of  the  People.  It  advocates  the  system  in  all  its 
prominent  features  of  abuse  and  oppression,  qualified 
indeed  by  certain  restraints,  which,  being  disguised  in 
loose  generalities,  elude  detection  and  defy  argument. 
For  ourselves,  we  have  no  concealments.  On  this  sub 
ject  we  have  heretofore  opposed,  arid  mean  hereafter  to 
oppose,  with  the  utmost  exertion  of  our  powers,  every 
new  addition  to  this  already  overgrown  and  pernicious 
system  of  bartering  away  the  sovereignty  of  the  People 


92  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

to  little  bodies  politic,  fattening  on  the  great  body,  and 
are  satisfied  that,  but  for  the  stand  we  took  on  this  great 
constitutional  ground,  the  late  triumph  of  democracy 
would  not  have  been  so  signal — in  this  great  city  at  least. 
The  majority  of  the  People  echoed  our  sentiments  ;  they 
rose  in  their  might  against  monopolies  and  exclusive 
privileges  ;  and  if  their  victory  is  not  followed  up  by  un 
compromising  opposition  to  the  great  source  of  monopo 
lies,  like  the  citizens  of  Paris,  they  will  have  fought  the 
"three  days"  for  nothing,  or  at  least  nothing  worth 
gaining.  They  will  have  used  their  exertions  only  to 
drive  away  one  swarm  of  flies,  already  gorged  with  their 
substance,  to  give  place  to  another  more  hungry  and  insa 
tiable.  Again  we  ask,  if  we  were  not  fighting  against 
monopolies  and  exclusive  privileges,  what  were  we  fight 
ing  for  ? 

That  our  readers  may  see  the  progress  making  in  other 
portions  of  the  Union,  in  this  system  of  secret  warfare 
against  their  Equal  Rights,  we  lay  before  them  an 
analysis  of  the  privileges  lately  conferred  on  one  of  these 
corporate  bodies  in  the  state  of  Ohio.  It  is  called  a  Life 
and  Trust  Company,  and  all  these  extensive  powers  are 
bartered  away  by  the  representatives  of  the  people,  under 
the  specious  pretext  of  enabling  a  few  persons,  having 
money  to  spare,  to  buy  life  annuities,  and  place  their  pro 
perty  in  the  safe  keeping  of  a  corporation  ;  a  body  with 
out  a  soul ;  an  abstraction  ;  a  remote  circumstance  ;  a 
nothing  tangible  or  responsible.  In  the  opinion  of  these 
law-givers,  the  integrity  of  individuals  and  the  general 
laws  of  the  land  are  insufficient  guarantees  for  the  safety 
of  property  ;  and  nothing  can  secure  it  but  the  possession 
and  the  exercise  of  privileges  founded  on  a  perpetuity  of 
property  and  a  usurpation  of.  rights. 

The  powers  granted  by  the  legislature  of  Ohio  to  their 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  93 

most  favoured  bantling  of  legislative  munificence,  are  as 
follows : 

1.  To  make  insurance  on  lives. 

2.  To  grant  and  purchase  annuities. 

3.  To  make  any  oilier  contract  involving  the  interest 
of  money  and  the  duration  of  life. 

4.  To  receive  moneys  on  trust,  and  to  lend  out  the  same 
at  such  rate  of  interest  as  may  be  agreed  on. 

5.  To  accept  and  execute  all  such  trusts  of  every  de 
scription  as  may  be  committed  to  them  by  any  person,  or  by 
by  any  Court  of  Record. 

6.  To  receive  and  hold  lands  under  grants  with  general 
and  special  covenants,  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  to  their 
business  or  the  payment  of  their  debts. 

7.  To  buy  and  sell  drafts  and  bills  of  exchange. 

8.  To  hold  an  original  capital  of  2,000,000  of  dollars. 

9.  To  vest  said  capital  in  bonds  and  mortgages  on  real 
estate  valued  at  double  the  amount  of  the  sums  loaned. 

10.  To  increase  said  capital  to  an  INDEFINITE  EXTENT 
by  deposites  at  an  agreed  rate  of  interest. 

11.  To  issue  bank  notes  to  double  the  amount  deposited 
— not  to  exceed  one  million  of  dollars. 

12.  To  have   twenty  trustees,  one-fifth  elected  every 
two  years,  so  that  ultimately  each  trustee  remains  in  ten 
years. 

Now  we  desire  the  people  to  look  well  at  this  delega 
tion  of  their  sovereignty  to  these  twenty  trustees.  We 
ask  them  if  there  is  any  thing  under  heaven  this  corpora 
tion  cannot  do,  except  perhaps  make  war  and  peace ; 
or  any  limits  to  its  powers  of  accumulation  ?  And  as  if 
to  cap  the  climax  of  legislative  folly  or  corruption,  this 
corporation  is  permitted  to  coin  its  own  money,  to  lend  or 
to  pay  its  annuities  and  the  interest  on  its  trusts.  It  re 
ceives  pledges  on  land  and  real  property,  bonds  and  mort 
gages,  on  liens  of  its  own  paper,  and  charges  interest  for 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

the  same,  thus  exchanging  rags  for  lands  and  houses,  at  a 
premium  of  interest  «  such  as  may  be  agreed  on." 

It  is  permitted  "  to  increase  its  capital  to  an  INDEFI 
NITE  EXTENT  by  deposites  at  an  interest  agreed  on."  In 
short  it  «  can  make  any  contract  involving  the  interest  of 
money  or  the  duration  of  life.1"  This  pledge  covers  every 
species  of  human  dealing,  and  may  be  tortured  by  the 
ingenuity  of  cupidity  into  including  all  the  business  of 
life.  In  fact  there  is  no  limit  to  the  powers  which  this 
minor  sovereignty  may  exercise,  as  to  its  means  of  acquir 
ing  wealth  and  influence.  Its  duration  is  perpetual,  and 
in  less  than  one  hundred  years,  it  will  swallow  up  the 
whole  state  of  Ohio.  Its  proprietors  of  land  will  become 
tenants  at  will  to  the  Life  and  Trust  Company,  and  an 
independent  yeomanry  sink  into  a  race  of  dependant 
slaves. 

They  have  no  remedy  except  a  revolution  ;  for  accord 
ing  to  the  famous  doctrine  of  "  vested  rights,"  one  legis 
lative  body  may  barter  away  privileges  which,  however 
pernicious  or  fatal  to  the  liberty  and  prosperity  of  the 
great  mass  of  citizens,  can  never  be  reclaimed  by  its 
successors.  The  mill-stone  once  tied  about  the  neck  of 
the  people,  becomes  a  vested  right,  and  cannot  be  un 
loosed,  even  to  save  them  from  drowning.  If  such  is  the 
settled  principle,  does  it  not  hold  up  a  warning  to  the  de 
positories  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  peoole,  against  lightly 
giving  way,  or  bartering  for  some  pitiful  consideration, 
privileges  which,  however  dangerous  or  pernicious  in 
their  consequences,  must  either  be  perpetual  or  endured 
for  a  certain  number  of  years  ?  If  the  grant  is  irrevo 
cable,  how  careful  should  they  be  in  making  it  ?  Re 
pentance  cannot  alleviate  the  consequences  of  the  trans 
gression  ;  legislation  can  make  no  atonement.  It  is  the 
fiat  of  fate,  and  to  strive  against  it,  is  not  only  vain  but 


WILLIAM       LEGGETT.  95 

blasphemous,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  champions 
of  legislative  omnipotence. 

The  people  of  this  or  any  other  country  never  contem. 
plated  bestowing  on  their  government  the  power  to  inflict 
upon  them  evils  which  no  subsequent  exertion  of  that 
power  could  remove.  They  did  not  bestow  upon  their 
legislative  bodies  a  portion  of  their  sovereignty,  to  barter 
it  away  in  exchange  for  the  wages  of  corruption,  or  for 
political  purposes.  What  they  gave  they  expected  would 
be  received  by  those  to  whom  it  was  given  for  the  special 
benefit  of  the  great  majority,  and  not  employed  in  forging 
for  them  fetters  from  which  no  after  struggle  could  release 
them.  This  practice  of  frittering  away  the  powers  of 
the  government,  in  themselves,  not  transferable,  has  di 
vested  that  government  of  a  great  portion  of  what  the 
people  conferred  on  it,  and  it  alone.  It  might  just  as 
well  delegate  to  a  corporation  the  rights  of  declaring  war 
and  concluding  peace,  as  to  bestow  on  it  the  exclusive 
right  of  giving  a  national  currency.  The  one  is  an  act 
of  sovereignty  as  well  as  the  other,  and  cannot  be  dele- 
gated. 

Already  we  perceive  the  value  of  the  privileges  thus 
liberally  bestowed  on  the  Ohio  Loan  and  Trust  Company. 
It  is  scarcely  yet  in  operation,  and  its  stock  is  upwards 
of  twenty  per.  cent  above  par.  In  a  few  years,  it  will  in 
all  probability,  if  managed  with  ordinary  sagacity  rise 
to  one,  nay,  two  hundred  per  cent.  Other  people  are 
glad  to  get  six  or  seven  per  cent,  for  their  money  and  this 
is  all  the  law  allows  them.  But  our  legislatures  make 
other  laws,  granting  to  a  few  what  is  denied  to  the  many, 
and  conferring  on  them  the  "  vested  right"  of  doubling 
their  capital  every  few  years.  Not  all  the  sophistries  of 
interested  cupidity,  can  xow  persuade  the  enlightened 
farmers  and  labouring  classes,  that  such  distributions  of 
privileges  are  founded  in  the  principles  of  Equal  Rights. 


96  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

The  time  we  trust  is  at  hand,  when  their  pernicious  in- 
roads  on  the  sanctity  of  individual  independence  will  be 
arrested  in  their  career,  and  that  preparations  must  be 
made  to  retrace  the  path  pursued  for  the  last  twenty  or 
thirty  years.  The  People  have  spoken,  and  they  must 
be  heard.  For  ourselves  we  mean  to  persevere  in  our  en 
deavours  to  draw  public  attention  to  this  most  important 
of  political  subjects.  Not  all  the  clamours  of  aristoc 
racy,  nor  the  treacherous  attacks  of  pretended  friends, 
shall  drive  us  from  the  stand  we  have  made  in  behalf  of 
the  Equal  Rights  of  the  People.  With  them  we  have 
made  common  cause,  and  with  them  we  mean  to  stand  or 
fall. 


THE  MONOPOLY  BANKING  SYSTEM. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  December,  1834.] 
IT  is  a  source  of  sincere  pleasure  to  us  to  perceive  that 
the  attention  of  the  people  is  seriously  awakened  to  the 
subject  of  the  Bank  system,  as  it  exists  in  this  country. 
It  seems  to  us  quite  evident  that  the  sentiment  is  daily 
gaining  ground  that  the  whole  system  is  erroneous — 
wrong  in  principle  and  productive  of  incalculable  evils 
in  its  practical  operation,  Those  who  have  been  readers 
of  the  EVENING  POST,  for  the  last  six  or  eight  months, 
have  had  this  subject  fully  and  freely  discussed,  not  only 
in  articles  from  our  own  pen,  but  in  numerous  excellent 
communications  from  able  correspondents,  and,  more 
especially,  in  the  clear,  comprehensive,  and  unanswera 
ble  essays  of  Mr.  Gouge,  which,  with  the  author's  per 
mission,  we  copied  from  his  admirable  work  on  Ameri 
can  Banking.  Those  who  perused  these  various  pro 
ductions,  with  the  attention  which  the  important  and 
interesting  nature  of  the  subject  required,  have  possessed 


WILLIAMLEGGETT.  97 

themselves  of  sufficient  materials  for  the  formation  of  a 
correct  opinion  ;  and  we  have  the  satisfaction  of  know 
ing  that  very  many  of  our  readers  concur  fully  with  us  in 
the  sentiments  we  entertain  with  regard  to  our  banking 
system. 

We  look  upon  that  system  as  wrong  in  two  of  its 
leading  principles  :  first,  we  object  to  it  as  founded  on  a 
species  of  monopoly  ;  and  secondly,  as  supplying  a  circu 
lating  medium  which  rests  on  a  basis  liable  to  all  the 
fluctuations  and  contingencies  of  commerce  and  trade — 
a  basis  which  may  at  any  time  be  swept  away  by  a  thou 
sand  casualties  of  business,  and  leave  not  a  wreck  behind. 
There  are  many  other  objections  incident  to  these,  some 
of  which  present  themselves  in  forms  which  demand  the 
most  serious  consideration. 

Our  primary  ground  of  opposition  to  banks  as  they  at 
present  exist  is  that  they  are  a  species  of  monopoly. 
All  corporations  are  liable  to  the  objection  that  whatever 
powers  or  privileges  are  given  to  them,  are  so  much  taken 
from  the  government  of  the  people.  Though  a  state 
legislature  may  possess  a  constitutional  right  to  create 
bank  incorporations,  yet  it  seems  very  clear  to  our  appre 
hension  that  the  doing  so  is  an  invasion  of  the  grand 
republican  principle  of  Equal  Rights — a  principle  which 
lies  at  the  bottom  of  our  constitution,  and  which,  in  truth, 
is  the  corner-stone  both  of  our  national  government,  and 
that  of  each  particular  state. 

Every  charter  of  incorporation,  we  have  said,  is,  to 
some  extent,  either  in  fact  or  in  practical  operation,  a 
monopoly  ;  for  these  charters  invariably  invest  those  upon 
whom  they  are  bestowed  with  powers  and  privileges  which 
are  not  enjoyed  by  the  great  body  of  the  people.  This 
may  be  done  by  merely  combining  larger  amounts  of 
capital  than  unincorporated  individuals  can  bring  into 
competition  with  the  chartered  institution  ;  but  the  end  is 
VOL.  I.— 9 


98  POLITICAL     WRITINGS    OF 

more  frequently  effected  by  the  more  palpably  unjust 
process  of  exonerating  the  chartered  few  from  liabilities 
to  which  the  rest  of  the  community  are  subject,  or  by 
prohibiting  the  unprivileged  individual  from  entering 
into  competition  with  the  favoured  creature  of  the  law. 

When  a  legislative  body  restrains  the  people  collec 
tively  from  exercising  their  natural  right  of  pursuing  a 
certain  branch  of  business,  and  gives  to  particular  indi 
viduals  exclusive  permission  to  carry  on  that  business, 
they  assuredly  are  guilty  of  a  violation  of  the  republican 
maxim  of  Equal  Rights,  which  nothing  but  the  plainest 
paramount  necessity  can  at  all  excuse.  This  violation 
is  the  more  palpable,  when  immunities  are  granted  to  the 
few,  which  would  not  have  been  enjoyed  by  the  people, 
had  their  natural  rights  never  been  restricted  by  law.  In 
the  case  of  Bank  incorporations  such  is  clearly  true ; 
since  those  who  are  thus  privileged  are  protected  by  their 
charters  both  from  the  competition  of  individuals,  and 
from  loss  to  any  greater  extent  than  the  amount  of  capi 
tal  they  may  risk  in  the  enterprise — a  protection  which 
would  have  been  enjoyed  by  no  member  of  the  commu 
nity,  had  the  law  left  banking  on  the  same  footing  with 
other  mercantile  pursuits.  As  a  monopoly,  then — as  a 
system  which  grants  exclusive  privileges — which  is  at 
Variance  with  the  great  fundamental  doctrine  of  demo 
cracy — we  must  oppose  Bank  incorporations,  unless  it  can 
be  shown  that  they  are  productive  of  good  which  greatly 
counterbalances  the  evil. 

A  second  objection  to  our  banking  system  is  that  it  is 
founded  on  a  wrong  basis — a  basis  that  does  not  afford 
adequate  security  to  the  community  ;  since  it  not  only 
does  not  protect  them  from  loss  by  ignorant  or  fraudu 
lent  management,  but  not  even  from  those  constantly 
recurring  commercial  revulsions,  which,  indeed,  are  one 
of  the  evil  fruits  of  this  very  system.  The  basis  of  our 


WILLIAM     LEG  GETT. 


99 


banking  business  is  specie  capital ;  yet  every  body  knows 
that  the  first  thing  a  bank  does,  on  going  into  operation, 
(if  we  suppose  the  whole  capital  to  have  been  honestly 
paid  in,  which  is  very  far  from  being  always  the  case) 
is  to  lend  out  its  capital ;  and  the  profits  of  the  institu, 
tion  do  not  commence  until,  having  loaned  all  its  capital, 
it  begins  to  loan  its  credit  as  money.     No  set  of  men 
would  desire  a  bank  charter  merely  to  authorize  them  to 
lend  their  money  capital  at  the  common  rate  of  interest ; 
for  they  would  have  no  difficulty  in  doing  that,  without 
a  charter,  and  without  incurring  the  heavy  expense  inci 
dent  to  banking  business.      The  object  of  a  bank  charter 
is  to  enable  those  holding  it  to  lend  their  credit  at  interest, 
and  to  lend  their  credit  too,  to  twice,  and  sometimes 
three  times,  the  amount  of  their  actual  capital.     In  re- 
turn,  then,  for  its  capital,  and  for  the  large  amount  of 
promissory  obligations  issued  on  the  credit  of  that  capi 
tal,  the  Bank  holds  nothing  but  the  liabilities  of  individual 
merchants  and  other  dealers.       It  must  be  evident  then 
that  its  capital  is  liable  to  all  the  fluctuations  and  acci, 
dents  to  which  commercial  business  is  exposed.     Its  in- 
tegrity  depends  upon  the  ability  of  its  dealers  punctually 
to  discharge  their  obligations.      Should  a  series  of  com- 
mercial  disasters  overwhelm  those  dealers,  the  capital  of 
the  Bank  is  lost,  and  the  bill  holder,  instead  of  money, 
finds  himself  possessed  of  a  mere  worthless  and  broken 
promise  to  pay. 

Let  us  trace  the  progress  of  a  new  banking  institution, 
Let  us  imagine  a  knot  of  speculators  to  have  possessed 
themselves,  by  certain  acts  of  collusion,  bribery,  and  po? 
litical  management,  of  a  bank  charter  ;  and  let  us  suppose 
them  commencing  operations  under  their  corporate  privi* 
leges,  They  begin  by  lending  their  capital.  After  that, 
if  commercial  business  is  active,  and  the  demand  for 
money  urgent,  they  take  care  to  put  as  many  of  their 


100  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

notes  in  circulation  as  possible.  For  awhile  this  does 
very  well,  and  the  Bank  realizes  large  profits.  Every 
thing  seems  to  flourish  ;  merchants  extend  their  opera- 
tions ;  they  hire  capacious  stores,  import  largely  from 
abroad,  sell  to  country  dealers  on  liberal  terms,  get  the 
notes  of  those  dealers  discounted,  and  extend  themselves 
still  further.  Others,  in  the  meanwhile,  stimulated  by 
this  same  appearance  of  commercial  prosperity,  borrow 
money  (that  is  notes)  from  the  Bank,  and  embark  in  en- 
terprises  of  a  different  nature.  They  purchase  lots, 
build  houses,  set  railway  and  canal  projects  on  foot,  and 
every  thing  goes  on  swimmingly.  The  demand  for 
labour  is  abundant,  property  of  alJ  kinds  rises  in  price, 
and  speculators  meet  each  other  in  the  streets,  and  exult 
in  their  anticipated  fortunes. 

But  by  and  by  things  take  a  different  turn.  The  ex- 
ports  of  the  country  (which  furnish  the  true  measure  of 
business)  are  found  to  fall  greatly  short  of  the  amount 
due  abroad  for  foreign  fabrics,  and  a  large  balance  re 
mains  unpaid.  The  first  intimation  of  this  is  the  rapid 
advance  in  the  price  of  foreign  exchange.  The  bank 
now  perceives  that  it  has  extended  itself  too  far.  Its 
notes,  which,  until  now,  circulated  currently  enough,  be- 
gin  to  return  in  upon  it  in  demand  for  specie  ;  while,  at 
the  same  time,  the  merchants,  whom  it  has  been  all  along 
eager  to  serve,  now  call  for  increased  accommodations. 
But  the  Bank  cannot  accommodate  them  any  longer. 
Instead  of  increasing  its  loans,  it  is  obliged  to  require 
payment  of  those  which  it  had  previously  made ;  for  its 
own  notes  are  flowing  in  a  continual  stream  to  its  coun 
ter,  and  real  money  is  demanded  instead.  But  real 
money  it  has  none,  as  that  was  all  lent  out  when  it  first 
went  into  operation.  Here  then  a  sudden  check  is  given 
to  the  seeming  prosperity.  The  merchants,  unable  to 
get  the  amount  of  accommodation  necessary  to  sustain 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  101 

their  operations,  are  forced  to  suspend  payment.  A  ru 
mour  of  the  amount  lost  by  the  Bank  in  consequence  of 
these  failures,  causes  confidence  in  its  solvency  to  be  im. 
paired,  and  being  threatened  with  a  run,  it  resorts  to  a 
still  more  rapid  curtailment.  Then  follows  wider  de 
rangement.  One  commercial  house  after  another  becomes 
bankrupt,  and  finally  the  Bank  itself,  by  these  repeated 
losses  forced  to  discontinue  its  business,  closes  its  doors, 
and  hands  over  its  affairs  for  the  benefit  of  its  creditors. 
Who  are  its  creditors  ?  Those  who  hold  its  money,  that 
is,  its  "promises  to  pay.''  On  investigation  it  is  discov 
ered,  most  likely,  that  the  whole  capital  of  the  institution 
has  been  absorbed  by  its  losses.  The  enormous  profits 
which  it  made  during  the  first  part  of  its  career,  had 
been  regularly  withdrawn  by  the  stockholders,  and  the 
deluded  creditor  has  nothing  but  a  worthless  bit  of  engra 
ved  paper  to  show  for  the  valuable  consideration  which 
he  parted  with  for  what  he  foolishly  imagined  money. 

What  we  have  here  stated  can  hardly  be  called  a  suppo 
sititious  case — it  is  a  true  history,  and  there  are  events 
within  the  memory  of  almost  every  reader  of  which  it  is 
a  narrative  almost  literally  correct. 

The  basis  of  our  banking  system,  then,  if  liable  to  be 
thus  easily  dissipated,  is  certainly  wrong.  Banks  should 
be  established  on  a  foundation  which  neither  panic  nor 
mismanagement,  neither  ignorance  nor  fraud,  could  de 
stroy.  The  bill-holder  should  always  be  secure,  what 
ever  might  become  of  the  stock-holder.  That  which  is 
received  as  money,  and  which  is  designed  to  pass  from 
hand  to  hand  as  such,  should  not  be  liable  to  change  into 
worthless  paper  in  the  transition. 

A  very  important  objection  incident  to  the  banking 
system  of  this  country  is  the  demoralizing  effect  which  it 
exercises  on  society.     It  is  a  matter  of  the  utmost  notori 
ety  that  bank  charters  are  in  frequent  instances  obtained 
9* 


102  TOLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

by  practices  of  the  most  outrageous  corruption.  They 
are  conceived  in  a  wild  spirit  of  speculation  ;  they  are 
brought  into  existence  through  the  instrumentality  of  bri 
bery  and  intrigue ;  and  they  exercise  over  the  community 
the  most  unsalutary  influence,  encouraging  men  of  busi- 
ness  to  transcend  the  proper  limits  of  credit,  and  foster 
ing  a  general  and  feverish  thirst  for  wealth,  prompting 
the  mind  to  seek  it  by  other  than  the  legitimate  means  of 
honest,  patient  industry,  and  prudent  enterprise.  Let 
any  man  who  has  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the 
effect  of  introducing  a  banking  institution,  into  a  quiet 
country  town,  on  the  moral  character  of  the  inhabitants, 
answer  for  himself  if  this  is  not  true.  Let  any  man, 
whose  knowledge  enables  him  to  contrast  a  portion  of  our 
country  where  banks  are  few,  with  another  where  they 
are  numerous,  answer  if  it  is  not  true.  Let  any  man 
whose  memory  extends  so  far  back  that  he  can  compare 
the  present  state  of  society  with  what  it  was  in  the  time  of 
our  fathers,  answer  if  it  is  not  true.  The  time  was  when 
fraud  in  business  was  as  rare — we  were  about  to  say — as 
honesty  is  now.  The  time  was  when  a  failure  was  a 
strange  and  unfrequent  occurrence  ;  when  a  bankrupt 
excited  the  sympathy  of  the  whole  community  for  his 
misfortunes,  or  their  censure  for  his  rashness,  or  their 
scorn  for  his  dishonesty.  The  banking  system  has  made 
insolvency  a  matter  of  daily  occurrence.  It  has  changed 
the  meaning  of  words,  it  has  altered  the  sense  of  things, 
it  has  revolutionized  our  ethical  notions.  Formerly,  if 
a  man  ventured  far  beyond  his  depth  in  business — if  he 
borrowed  vast  sums  of  money  to  hazard  them  in  doubt 
ful  enterprises — if  he  deluded  the  world  by  a  system  of 
false  shows  and  pretences,  and  extended  his  credit  by 
every  art  and  device — formerly  such  a  man  was  called 
rash  and  dishonest,  but  we  now  speak  of  him  as  enter 
prising  and  ingenious.  The  man  whose  ill-planned  specu- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  103 

lations  miscarry— whose  airy  castle  of  credit  is  suddenly 
overturned,  burying  hundreds  of  industrious  mechanics 
and  labourers  under  its  ruins — such  a  man  would  once 
have  been  execrated  ;  he  is  now  pitied  ;  while  our  cen 
sure  and  contempt  is  transferred  to  those  who  are  the  vic 
tims  of  his  fraudful  schemes. 

For  its  political  effect,  not  less  than  moral,  our  bank 
system  deserves  to  be  opposed.     It  is  essentially  an  aris 
tocratic  institution.     It  bands  the  wealthy  together,  holds 
out  to  them  a  common  motive,  animates  them  with  a  com 
mon  sentiment,  and  inflates  their  vanity  with  notions  of 
superior  power  and    greatness.       The  bank  system   is 
maintained  out  of  the  hard  earnings  of  the  poor ;   and 
its  operation  is  to  degrade  them  in  their  political  rights, 
as  much  as  they  are   degraded  in  a  pecuniary  respect, 
by  the  accident  of  fortune.      Its  tendency  is  to  give  ex 
clusive  political,  as  well  as  exclusive  money  privileges  to 
the  rich.    It  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  our  con 
stitution  and  the  genius  of  the  people.     It  is  silently,  but 
rapidly,  undermining  our  institutions ;  it  falsifies  our  grand 
boast  of  political  equality  ;  it  is  building  up  a  privileged 
order,  who,  at  no  distant  day,  unless  the  whole  system  be 
changed,  will  rise  in  triumph  on  the  ruins  of  democracy. 
Even  now,  how  completely  we  are  monopoly-governed  ! 
how  completely  we  are  hemmed  in  on  every  side,  how 
we  are  cabined,  cribb'd,  confined,  by  exclusive   privi 
leges  !     Not  a  road   can  be  opened,  not  a  bridge  can  be 
built,  not  a  canal  can  be  dug,  but  a  charter  of  exclusive 
privileges  must  be  granted    for  the  purpose.     The  sum 
and  substance  of  our  whole  legislation  is  the  granting  of 
monopolies.       The  bargaining  and  trucking  away  char 
tered  privileges  is  the  whole  business  of  our  law  makers. 
The  people  of  this  great  state  fondly  imagine  that  they 
govern  themselves  ;   but  they  do  not !    They  are  led  about 
by  the  unseen  but  strong  bands  of  chartered  companies. 


104         POLITICAL  WRITINGS  OF 

They  are  fastened  down  by  the  minute  but  effectual  fet 
ters  of  banking  institutions.  They  are  governed  by 
bank  directors,  bank  stockholders,  and  bank  minions. 
They  are  under  the  influence  of  a  power  whose  name  is 
Legion-— they  are  under  the  influence  of  bank  monopo 
lies,  with  a  host  of  associate  and  subordinate  agents,  the 
other  incorporated  companies,  depending  on  bank  assist 
ance  for  their  means  of  operation.  These  evil  influences 
are  scattered  throughout  our  community,  in  every  quar 
ter  of  the  state.  They  give  the  tone  to  our  meetings  ; 
they  name  our  candidates  for  the  legislature  ;  they  se 
cure  their  election  ;  they  control  them  when  elected. 

What  then  is  the  remedy  for  the  evil  ?  Do  away  with 
our  bad  bank  system ;  repeal  our  unjust,  unsalutary,  un 
democratic  restraining  law;  and  establish,  in  its  stead, 
some  law,  the  sole  object  of  which  shall  be  to  provide  the 
community  with  security  against  fraud.  We  hope,  in 
deed,  to  see  the  day  when  banking,  like  any  other  mer 
cantile  business  will  be  left  to  regulate  itself;  when  the 
principles  of  free  trade  will  be  perceived  to  have  as  much 
relation  to  currency  as  to  commerce  ;  when  the  maxim 
of  Let  us  alone  will  be  acknowledged  to  be  better,  infi 
nitely  better,  than  all  this  political  quackery  of  ignorant 
legislators,  instigated  by  the  grasping,  monopolizing  spirit 
of  rapacious  capitalists.  This  country,  we  hope,  we 
trust,  is  destined  to  prove  to  mankind  the  truth  of  the 
saying,  that  the  world  is  governed  too  much,  and  to  prove 
it  by  her  own  successful  experiment  in  throwing  off  the 
clogs  and  fetters  with  which  craft  and  cunning  have  ever 
contrived  to  bind  the  mass  of  men. 

But  to  suit  the  present  temper  of  the  times,  it  would 
be  easy  to  substitute  a  scheme  of  banking  which  should 
have  all  the  advantages  of  the  present  one,  and  none  of 
its  defects.  Let  the  restraining  law  be  repealed  ;  let  a 
law  be  substituted,  requiring  simply  that  any  person  enter- 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  105 

ing  into  banking  business  shall  be  required  to  lodge  with 
some  officer  designated  in  the  law,  real  estate,  or  other 
approved  security,  to  the  full  amount  of  the  notes  which 
he  might  desire  to  issue  ;  and  to  secure,  that  this  amount 
should  never  be  exceeded,  it  might  be  provided  that  each 
particular  note  should  be  authenticated  by  the  signature 
of  the  comptroller,  or  other  officer  entrusted  with  the  busi 
ness.  Another  clause  might  state  suitable  provisions  for 
having  the  securities  re-appraised,  from  time  to  time,  so 
that  bill  holders  might  be  sure  that  sufficient  unalienable 
property  was  always  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  the 
paper  currency  founded  upon  that  basis.  Banking,  es 
tablished  on  this  foundation,  would  be  liable  to  none  of 
the  evils  arising  from  panic  ;  for  each  holder  of  a  note 
would,  in  point  of  fact,  hold  a  title-deed  of  property  to 
the  full  value  of  its  amount.  It  would  not  be  liable  to 
the  revulsions  which  follow  overtrading,  and  which  every 
now  and  then  spread  such  dismay  and  ruin  through  com 
mercial  communities ;  for  when  bankers  are  left  to 
manage  their  own  business,  each  for  himself,  they  would 
watch  the  course  of  trade,  and  limit  their  discounts  ac 
cordingly  ;  because  if  they  extended  them  beyond  the 
measure  of  the  legitimate  business  of  the  country,  they 
would  be  sure  that  their  notes  would  return  upon  them  in 
demand  for  the  precious  metals,  thus  forcing  them  to 
part  with  their  profits,  in  order  to  purchase  silver  and 
gold  to  answer  such  demand. 

But  much  as  we  desire  to  see  the  wretched,  insecure, 
and,  in  a  political  view,  dangerous  banking  system  su. 
perceded  by  the  more  honest  and  equal  plan  we  have 
suggested,  we  would  by  no  means  be  considered  as  the 
advocates  of  sudden  or  capricious  change.  All  reforma 
tions  of  the  currency — all  legislation,  the  tendency  of 
which  is  to  disturb  the  relations  of  value,  should  be  slow, 
well  considered  and  gradual.  In  this  hasty  and  unpre. 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

meditated  article,  we  have  glanced  at  the  system  which 
we  desire  may  ere  long  take  the  place  of  the  present 
one,  and  have  rapidly  adverted  to  some  of  the  reasons 
which  render  the  change  desirable.  But  as  a  first  step 
towards  the  consummation,  we  should  wish  the  legisla 
ture  to  do  nothing  more  at  present  than  restrain  the  issue 
of  notes  under  five  dollars,  and  refuse  to  charter  any 
more  banks.  The  people  demand  it,  and  we  do  not  think 
that  the  public  sentiment  is  in  favour  of  any  further  imme 
diate  reformation.  As  to  the  prospective  legislation 
which  is  proposed  by  some,  we  think  it  anti-republican 
and  unwise.  We  would  not  take  advantage  of  any  pre 
sent  movement  of  the  public  mind  to  fasten  a  law  upon 
the  state,  which  public  sentiment  may  not  afterwards  sus 
tain.  The  same  influence  of  public  opinion  which,  is 
now  about  to  lead  to  the  long-desired  first  step  in  Bank 
reform,  will  be  potent  in  carrying  on  the  reformation  to 
the  desired  conclusion.  A  good  maxim,  and  one  which 
it  will  be  well  to  be  governed  by  in  this  matter,  is  festina 
lente. 


RICH  AND  POOR. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  December  6, 1834.] 
The  rich  perceive,  acknowledge,  and  act  upon  a  com 
mon  interest,  and  why  not  the  poor  ?  Yet  the  moment 
the  latter  are  called  upon  to  combine  for  the  preservation 
of  their  rights,  forsooth  the  community  is  in  danger! 
Property  is  no  longer  secure,  and  life  in  jeopardy.  This 
cant  has  descended  to  us  from  those  times  when  the  poor 
and  labouring  classes  had  no  stake  in  the  community,  and 
no  rights  except  such  as  they  could  acquire  by  force. 
But  the  times  have  changed,  though  the  cant  remains 
the  same.  The  scrip  nobility  of  this  Republic  have 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  107 

adopted  towards  the  free  people  of  this  Republic  the 
same  language  which  the  Feudal  Barons  and  the  des 
pot  who  contested  with  them  the  power  of  oppressing  the 
people,  used  towards  their  serfs  and  villains,  as  they  were 
opprobiously  called. 

These  would-be  lordlings  of  the  Paper  Dynasty,  cannot 
or  will  not  perceive,  that  there  is  some  difference  in  the 
situation  and  feelings  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  those  of  the  despotic  governments  of  Europe.  They 
forget  that  at  this  moment  our  people,  we  mean  emphati 
cally  the  class  which  labours  with  its  own  hands,  is  in 
possession  of  a  greater  portion  of  the  property  and  intelli 
gence  of  this  country,  ay,  ten  times  over,  than  all  the 
creatures  of  the  paper  credit  system  put  together.  This 
property  is  indeed  more  widely  and  equally  distributed 
among  the  people  than  among 'the  phantoms  of  the  paper 
system,  and  so  much  the  better.  And  as  to  their  intelli 
gence,  let  any  man  talk  with  them,  and  if  he  does  not 
learn  something  it  is  his  own  fault.  They  are  as  well 
acquainted  with  the  rights  of  person  and  property,  and 
have  as  just  a  regard  for  them,  as  the  most  illustrious 
lordiing  of  the  scrip  nobility.  And  why  should  they 
not  ?  Who  and  what  are  the  great  majority  of  the  weal 
thy  people  of  this  city — we  may  say  of  this  country  ? 
Are  they  not  (we  say  it  not  in  disparagement,  but  in 
high  commendation)  are  they  not  men  who  began  the 
world  comparatively  poor  with  ordinary  education  and 
ordinary  means  ?  And  what  should  make  them  so  much 
wiser  than  their  neighbours  1  Is  it  because  they  live  in 
better  style,  ride  in  carriages,  and  have  more  money— -or 
at  least  more  credit  than  their  poorer  neighbours  1  Does 
a  man  become  wiser,  stronger,  or  more  virtuous  and  patri 
otic,  because  he  has  a  fine  house  over  his  head  ?  Does 
he  love  his  country  the  better  because  he  has  a  French 
cook,  and  a  box  at  the  opera  ?  Or  does  he  grow  more 


108  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

learned,  logical  and  profound  by  intense  study  of  the  day 
book,  ledger,  bills  of  exchange,  bank  promises,  and  notes 
of  hand  1 

Of  all  the  countries  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  that 
ever  existed  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  this  is  the  one  where 
the  claims  of  wealth  and  aristocracy  are  the  most  un 
founded,  absurd  and  ridiculous.  With  no  claim  to  he- 
reditary  distinctions ;  with  no  exclusive  rights  except 
what  they  derive  from  monopolies,  and  no  power  of  per 
petuating  their  estates  in  their  posterity,  the  assumption 
•  of  aristocratic  airs  and  claims  is  supremely  ridiculous. 
To-morrow  they  themselves  may  be  beggars  for  aught 
they  know,  or  at  all  events  their  children  may  become 
so.  Their  posterity  in  the  second  generation  will  have 
to  begin  the  world  again,  and  work  for  a  living  as  did 
their  forefathers.  And  yet  the  moment  a  man  becomes 
rich  among  us,  he  sets  up  for  wisdom — he  despises  the 
poor  and  ignorant — he  sets  up  for  patriotism  :  he  is  your 
only  man  who  has  a  stake  in  the  community,  and  there 
fore  the  only  one  who  ought  to  have  a  voice  in  the  state. 
What  folly  is  this  ?  And  how  contemptible  his  presump 
tion  ?  He  is  not  a  whit  wiser,  better  or  more  patriotic 
than  when  he  commenced  the  world,  a  waggon  driver. 
Nay  not  half  so  patriotic,  for  he  would  see  his  country 
disgraced  a  thousand  times,  rather  than  see  one  fall  of 
the  stocks,  unless  perhaps  he  had  been  speculating  on 
such  a  contingency.  To  him  a  victory  is  only  of  conse 
quence,  as  it  raises,  and-  a  defeat  only  to  be  lamented,  as 
it  depresses  a  loan.  His  soul  is  wrapped  up  in  a  certifi 
cate  of  scrip,  or  a  Bank  note.  Witness  the  conduct  of 
these  pure  patriots,  during  the  late  war,  when  they,  at 
least  a  large  proportion  of  them,  not  only  withheld  all 
their  support  from  the  Government,  but  used  all  their  in 
fluence  to  prevent  others  from  giving  their  assistance. 
Yet  these  are  the  people  who  alone  have  a  stake  in  the 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  109 

community,  and  of  course  exclusively  monopolize  patriot 
ism. 

But  let  us  ask  what  and  where  is  the  danger  of  a  com- 
bination  of  the  labouring  classes  in  vindication  of  their 
political  principles,  or  in  defence  of  their  menaced  rights  ? 
Have  they  not  the  right  to  act  in  concert,  when  their  op 
ponents  act  in  concert  1  Nay,  is  it  not  their  bounden 
duty  to  combine  against  the  only  enemy  they  have  to  fear 
as  yet  in  this  free  country,  monopoly  and  a  great  paper 
system  that  grinds  them  to  the  dust  ?  Truly  this  is 
strange  republican  doctrine,  and  this  is  a  strange  republi 
can  country,  where  men  cannot  unite  in  one  common 
effort,  in  one  common  cause,  without  rousing  the  cry  of 
danger  to  the  rights  of  person  and  property.  Is  not  this 
a  government  of  the  people,  founded  on  the  rights  of  the 
people,  and  instituted  for  the  express  object  of  guarding 
them  against  the  encroachments  and  usurpations  of 
power?  And  if  they  are  not  permitted  the  possession  of 
common  interest ;  the  exercise  of  a  common  feeling  ;  if 
they  cannot  combine  to  resist  by  constitutional  means, 
these  encroachments  ;  to  what  purpose  were  they  declar 
ed  free  to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage  in  the  choice  of 
rulers,  and  the  making  of  laws  ? 

And  what  we  ask  is  the  power  against  which  the  peo. 
pie,  not  only  of  this  country,  but  of  almost  all  Europe,  are 
called  upon  to  array  themselves,  and  the  encroachment 
on  their  rights,  they  are  summoned  to  resist  ?  Is  it  not 
emphatically,  the  power  of  monopoly,  and  the  encroach 
ments  of  corporate  privileges  of  every  kind,  which  the 
cupidity  of  the  rich  engenders  to  the  injury  of  the  poor  ? 

It  was  to  guard  against  the  encroachments  of  power, 
the  insatiate  ambition  of  wealth  that  this  government  was 
instituted,  by  the  people  themselves.  But  the  objects 
which  call  for  the  peculiar  jealousy  and  watchfulness  of 
the  people,  are  not  now  what  they  once  were.  The  cau- 
VOL.  I — 10 


110  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

tions  of  the  early  writers  in  favour  of  the  liberties  of  man 
kind,  have  in  some  measure  become  obsolete  and  inappli 
cable.  We  are  menaced  by  our  old  enemies,  avarice  and 
ambition,  under  a  new  name  and  form.  The  tyrant  is 
changed  from  a  steel-clad  feudal  baron,  or  a  minor  des 
pot,  at  the  head  of  thousands  of  ruffian  followers,  to  a 
mighty  civil  gentleman,  who  comes  mincing  and  bowing 
to  the  people  with  a  quill  behind  his  ear,  at  the  head  of 
countless  millions  of  magnificent  promises.  He  promises 
to  make  every  body  rich  ;  he  promises  to  pave  cities  with 
gold  ;  and  he  promises  to  pay.  In  short  he  is  made  up 
of  promises.  He  will  do  wonders,  such  as  never  were 
seen  or  heard  of,  provided  the  people  will  only  allow  him 
to  make  his  promises,  equal  to  silver  and  gold,  and  human 
labour,  and  grant  him  the  exclusive  benefits  of  all  the 
great  blessings  he  intends  to  confer  on  them.  He  is  the 
sly,  selfish,  grasping  and  insatiable  tyrant,  the  people  are 
now  to  guard  against.  A  CONCENTRATED  MONEY  POWER  ; 
a  usurper  in  the  disguise  of  a  benefactor  ;  an  agent  exer 
cising  privileges  which  his  principal  never  possessed  ;  an 
impostor  who,  while  he  affects  to  wear  chains,  is  placed 
above  those  who  are  free  ?  a  chartered  libertine,  that  pre 
tends  to  be  manacled  only  that  he  may  the  more  safely 
pick  our  pockets,  and  lord  it  over  our  rights.  This  is  the 
enemy  we  are  now  to  encounter  and  overcome,  before  we 
can  expect  to  enjoy  the  substantial  realities  of  freedom. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  Ill 

REVOLUTIONARY  PENSIONERS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  Dec.  8, 1834.] 

In  the  proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen, 
on  Monday  evening  last,  as  reported  in  the  morning  pa 
pers,  and  copied  into  this  journal,  there  occurred  the  fol 
lowing  passage  : 

«  Assistant  Alderman  Tallmadge  moved  that  the  Board 
now  take  up  the  report  of  the  special  committee,  relative 
to  the  relief  of  the  surviving  Revolutionary  soldiers  re 
siding  in  the  city  and  county  of  New-York.  When  the 
last  Pension  List  was  made  out,  the  number  amounted  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven — but  some,  since  then,  had 
left  the  city,  and  others  had  joined  the  companions  of 
their  youth,  in  the  cold  and  quiet  grave,  so  that  the  num 
ber  left  is  less  than  one  hundred.  He  bmoved  that  one 
hundred  dollars  be  paid  out  of  the  city  treasury  on  the 
1st  January  next,  to  every  surviving  officer  and  soldier 
of  the  revolution  in  the  city  and  county  of  New-York, 
now  receiving  a  pension,  provided  the  number  does  not 
exceed  one  hundred.  He  accompanied  it  by  an  eloquent 
appeal,  in  which  he  showed,  that  while  we  are  rejoicing 
at  the  victories  of  the  revolution,  we  should  not  forget 
those  in  their  old  age  who  achieved  them.'' 

Mr.  Tallmadge  chose,  beyond  all  question,  a  very  fine 
theme,  for  the  exercise  of  his  oratorical  powers,  if  he  pos 
sesses  any  ;  and  if  we  are  to  believe  the  reporters  of  the 
morning  papers,  there  is  not  a  stupid  dolt  in  either  board 
of  the  city  council  who  does  not  evince  the  eloquence  of 
a  Tully  every  time  he  opens  his  mouth,  and  drawls  and 
stammers  out  a  few  sentences  of  ungrammatical  gib 
berish.  Whether  Assistant  Alderman  Tallmadge's 
oratory  is  of  this  stamp  or  not  we  do  not  profess 


112  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

to  know,  as  we  never  had  the  happiness  of  hearing 
the  gentlemen,  or  seeing  him,  or  having  any  com- 
munion  with  him,  direct  or  indirect,  of  any  sort  or 
kind  whatever.  We  are  bound  to  suppose,  however, 
that  his  forensic  powers  are  of  a  high  order  ;  for  we  do 
not  know  in  what  way  else  to  account  for  the  fact  that 
his  wild  and  unjustifiable  proposition  should  have  receiv 
ed,  with  a  single  exception,  the  unanimous  support  of 
the  whole  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen.  The  name  of 
the  man  who  voted  in  the  negative  ought  to  have  been 
given.  He  deserves  credit  for  his  independence  ;  he 
deserves  credit  for  his  fidelity  to  his  constituents  ;  he 
deserves  credit  for  not  suffering  his  common  sense  and 
common  honesty  to  be  swept  away  by  the  torrent  of 
Assistant  Alderman  Tallmadge's  "  eloquent  appeal !  " 

Let  us  reflect  a  moment  what  this  proposition  is  which 
the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen  have,  with  this  single 
exception,  unanimously  adopted.  Why  to  give  away 
ten  thousand  dollars  of  the  people's  money  to  such  of  the 
revolutionary  pensioners  as  reside  in  the  city  of  New- 
York.  Does  not  the  plain  good  sense  of  every  reader 
perceive  that  this  is  a  monstrous  abuse  of  the  trust  con 
fided  to  our  city  legislators  ?  Did  we  send  them  to  re 
present  us  in  the  Common  Council  that  they  may  squan 
der  away  the  city's  treasures  at  such  a  lavish  rate  ?  Is 
it  any  part  of  their  duty  to  make  New-Year's  presents  ? 
Have  they  any  right  under  heaven  to  express  their  sym 
pathy  for  the  revolutionary  pensioners  at  the  city's  cost  ? 
If  they  have,  where  is  the  warrant  for  it?  Let  them 
point  their  fingers  to  the  clause  in  the  city  charter  which 
authorizes  them  to  lay  taxes,  that  they  may  be  expended 
again  in  bounties,  rewards  and  largesses,  to  class  any  of 
men  whatever. 

Let  no  reader  suppose  that  in  making  these  remarks, 
we  lack  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  eminent  servic  es 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  113 

rendered  to  this  country,  and  to  the  cause  of  human  lib- 
erty  throughout  the  world,  by  those  brave  and  heroic 
men  who  achieved  our  national  independence.  Doubt 
less  many,  very  many  of  them,  entered  into  that  contest 
with  no  higher  motives  than  animate  the  soldier  in  every 
contest,  for  whatsoever  object  undertaken — whether  in 
defence  of  liberty  or  to  destroy  it.  But  the  glorious  re 
sult  has  spread  a  halo  around  all  who  had  any  share  in 
achieving  it,  and  they  will  go  down  together  in  history, 
to  the  latest  hour  of  time,  as  a  band  of  disinterested,  ex 
alted,  incorruptible  and  invincible  patriots.  This  is  the 
light  in  which  their  sons,  at  least,  the  inheritors  of  their 
precious  legacy  of  freedom,  ought  to  view  them  ;  and 
they  never,  while  a  single  hero  of  that  band  remains,  can 
be  exonerated  from  the  obligations  of  gratitude  which 
they  owe.  But  we  would  not,  on  that  account,  authorize 
any  usurpation  of  power  by  our  public  servants,  under 
the  pretence  of  showing  the  gratitude  of  the  community 
to  the  time-worn  veterans  of  the  revolutionary  war.— 
Every  man  ought  to  be  his  own  almoner,  and  not  suffer 
those  whom  he  has  elected  for  far  different  purposes,  to 
squander  the  funds  of  the  public  chest,  at  any  rate,  and 
on  any  object  which]  may  seem  'tto  them  deserving  of 
sympathy.  The  precedent  is  a  wrong  one,  and  is  doubly 
wrong,  inasmuch  as  the  general  regard  for  those  for 
whose  benefit  this  stretch  of  power  is  exerted,  may  lead 
men  to  overlook  the  true  character  of  the  unwarrantable 
assumption. 

Let  ten  thousand — let  fifty  thousand  dollars  be  given 
by  our  city  to  the  revolutionary  veterans  who  are  closing 
their  useful  lives  in  the  bosom  of  this  community  ;  but  let 
it  be  given  to  them  without  an  infringement  of  those  sa 
cred  rights  which  they  battled  to  establish.  If  the  public 
feeling  would  authorize  such  a  donation  as  Mr.  Tall- 
madge  exerted  his  "  eloquence  "  in  support  of,  that  same 
10* 


114  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

feeling  would  prompt  our  citizens,  each  man  for  himself, 
to  make  a  personal  contribution  towards  a  fund  which 
should  properly  and  nobly  speak  the  gratitude  of  New- 
York  towards  the  venerable  patriots  among  them.  But 
the  tax-payer,  who  would  liberally  contribute  to  such  an 
object,  in  a  proper  way,  may  very  naturally  object  to  Mr. 
Tallmadge  thrusting  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  and  forc 
ing  him  to  give  for  what  and  to  whom  that  eloquent  gen- 
tleman  pleases.  If  the  city  owes  an  unliquidated 
amount,  not  of  gratitude,  but  of  money,  to  the  revolution, 
ary  pensioners,  let  it  be  paid  by  the  Common  Council, 
and  let  Mr.  Tallmadge  be  as  eloquent  as  he  pleases,  or  as 
he  can  be,  in  support  of  the  appropriation.  But  beyond 
taking  care  of  our  persons  and  our  property,  the  func 
tions  neither  of  our  city  government,  nor  of  our  state 
government,  nor  of  our  national  government,  extend. 
We  hope  to  see  the  day  when  the  people  will  jealously 
watch  and  indignantly  punish  every  violation  of  this 
principle. 

That  what  we  have  here  written  does  not  proceed 
from  any  motive  other  than  that  we  have  stated,  we 
trust  we  need  not  assure  our  readers.  That,  above  all, 
it  does  not  proceed  from  any  unkindness  towards  the  re 
maining  heroes  of  the  revolution,  must  be  very  evident  to 
all  such  as  have  any  knowledge  of  the  personal  relations 
of  the  writer.  Among  those  who  would  receive  the  bene 
fit  of  Mr.  Tallmadge's  scheme  is  the  venerable  parent  of 
him  whose  opinions  are  here  expressed.  That  parent, 
after  a  youth  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country,  after 
a  long  life  of  unblemished  honour,  now,  in  the  twilight  of 
his  age,  and  bending  under  the  burden  of  fourscore 
years,  is  indebted  to  the  tardy  justice  of  his  Government 
for  much  of  the  little  light  that  cheers  the  evening  of  his 
eventful  day.  Wanting  indeed  should  we  be,  therefore, 
in  every  sentiment  of  filial  duty  and  love,  if  we  could 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  115 

oppose  this  plan  of  a  public  donation,  for  any  other  than 
public  and  sufficient  reasons.  But  viewing  it  as  an  at 
tempt  to  exercise  a  power  which  the  people  never  meant 
to  confer  upon  their  servants,  we  should  be  wanting  in 
those  qualities  of  which  this  donation  is  intended  to  ex- 
press  the  sense  of  the  community,  if  we  did  not  oppose 
it.  We  trust  the  resolution  will  not  pass  the  upper 
Board. 


PROTECTION  OF  COMMERCIAL  INTERESTS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Dec.  12, 1834.] 
The  resolution  offered   by  Mr.  Morgan,  in  the  House 
of   Representatives   on  Tuesday  last,    instructing    the 
Committee  on  Commerce  to  inquire  into  the  expediency 
of  obliging  all  masters  of  vessels  trading  south  of  the 
equator  to  take  at  least  two  apprentices  with  them,  does 
not  embrace  a  sufficiently  extensive  range   of  inquiry. 
Qught  not  that  Committee,  or  other  appropriate  ones, 
standing  or   special,  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of 
obliging  all  shipwrights  to  have  a  certain  number  of  ap 
prentices,  "as  a  means  of  benefiting  the  commercial  in- 
terests  of  the  United  States  ?"     The  art  of  ship-building 
is  certainly  a  very  important  one  to  our  commercial  in 
terests,  quite  as    much  so    as  the  art  of  navigating,  the 
southern   ocean  and  catching  whales  and  seals.     Then 
again,  there  is  the  rope- making  business,   which  is  also 
important.     If  that  art  should  be  lost,  our  "  commercial 
interests"  would  cut  but  a  sorry  figure.     Ought  we  not, 
therefore,  to  guard  against  so  great  a  calamity,  oblige 
ropemakers  to  educate  a  certain  number  of  apprentices  ? 
We  should  have  few  sailors  if  we  had  no  ropes.     The 
raising  of  hemp,  and   the   manufacture  of  canvass,  are 
both  important  to  our  "  commercial  interests."     Con- 


116  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

gress  had  perhaps  better  look  out  that  the  race  of  hemp, 
raisers  and  canvass  manufacturers  do  not  become  extinct 
by  timely  passing  a  law  obliging  all  now  engaged  in 
these  pursuits  to  take  apprentices  ;  for  we  never  heard 
of  but  one  ship  that  could  lie  upon  a  wind  and  make 
headway  without  canvass,  and  there  is  not  likely  to  be 
another,  unless,  indeed,  steam  might  supply  the  place  of 
canvass ;  and  then  the  law  would  only  have  to  be  modi 
fied  so  as  to  transfer  the  apprentices  over  to  the  steam 
engineer.  If  Mr.  Morgan  begins  upon  this  forcing  sys 
tem,  and  is  for  doing  everything  by  legislation,  he  must 
not  stop  at  south  sea  ship  apprentices.  A  wide  field  is 
open  before  him.  When  he  comes  to  expatiate  at  large 
in  it,  however,  he  may  chance  to  discover  that  he  has 
started  on  a  wrong  principle, — that  the  old  notions  of 
government  bounty,  protection,  prohibition  and  coercion 
in  matters  of  trade,  are  totally  exploded  by  the  wisest 
men  and  deepest  thinkers  of  the  age, — that  mankind 
have  discovered  at  last  that  they  are  "governed  too 
much  ; — and  that  the  true  democratic  principle,  and 
the  true  principle  of  political  economy,  is  "Let  us  alone." 
It  may  be  proper  to  add  that  we  do  not  mean,  by  our 
ironical  mode  of  allusion  to  the  subject,  the  slightest  dis 
respect  to  Mr.  Morgan,  for  whose  character  we  entertain 
great  regard. 


THE  FRENCH  TREATY  — PRESIDENT'S 
MESSAGE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  December  15,  1834.] 
WE  have  heretofore  remarked  that  a  great  number  of 
the  opposition  prints,  including  some  most  distinguished 
for  the  bitterness  of  their  hostility  to  the  present  Admin 
istration,  fully  approve  of  that  portion  of  the  President's 
message  which  relates  to  France.  All  of  them,  without 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  117 

exception,   so  far  as  we  have  observed,  ftmit  that  his 
statement  of  the  question  at  issue  between  the  two  gov 
ernments  is  exceedingly  lucid  and  accurate,  and  that  the 
conduct  of  France  deserves  all  the  reprehension  it  has  re- 
ceived.     But  constrained,  either  by  the  force  of  habit,  or 
the  force  of  political  malignity,  to  oppose  the  Executive 
at  all  hazards  and  on  all  subjects,  there  are  many  prints 
that  assail  his  proposed  measure  of  reprisals  with  a  bitter- 
ness  which  could  hardly  be  exceeded  if  France  were 
wholly  in  the  right,  and  the  mere  suggestion  of  a  course 
by  no  means  belligerant  were  an  actual  declaration  of 
war.     The  spectacle  of  so  considerable  a  portion  of  the 
press  of  a  free  and  enlightened  country  attacking  the 
Chief  Magistrate  with  the  utmost  vindictiveness,   for 
simply  recommending  measures  which  he  deems  called 
for  alike  by  regard  for  the  long-deferred  rights  of  plun 
dered  citizens,   and  by  the  claims  of  national  honour, 
would  create  emotions  of  a  painful  kind,  had  not  our  vo 
cation  long  since  accustomed  us  to  see  partisan  writers 
lose  all  sense  of  patriotism  in  the  engrossing  sentiment 
of  hostility  to  the  exalted  man  "  who  has  filled  the  mea 
sure  of  his  country's  glory."     As  it  is,  we  view  the  effer 
vescence  of  their  rancour  with  a  feeling  near  akin  to  in 
difference  ;  and  indeed  it  is  an  employment  not  wholly 
without  amusement  to  watch  the  straits  to  which  they 
are  reduced,  in  order  to  give  some  colour  of  reason  to 
the  violent  invectives  they  pour  out  upon  General  Jack 
son's  head. 

One  tribe  of  opponents,  determined  to  consider  the 
suggested  measure  of  reprisals  as  tantamount  to  a  declar 
ation  of  war,  straightway  fall  to  counting  the  costs,  and 
graduate  the  wickedness  of  the  proposal  by  a  scale  of 
dollars  and  cents.  These  ready  reckoners,  with  a  facility 
of  calculation  surpassing  that  of  Zerah  Colburn,  have 
ascertained  the  exact  expense  of  war,  which  they  set 


118  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

down  at  fifty  millions  of  dollars ;  and  hereupon  they  rail 
at  the  President  for  his  enormous  profligacy  in  proposing 
to  spend  fifty  millions  for  the  recovery  of  five  !  France, 
they  acknowledge,  has  treated  us  very  badly.  Our  na 
tional  forbearance,  they  are  obliged  to  confess,  has  been 
shown  in  an  exemplary  degree,  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  a  most  protracted  and  perplexing  negotiation  ; 
and  when  that  negotiation  at  last  terminated  in  a  treaty, 
by  which  the  spoiler  of  our  commerce  and  the  plunderer 
of  our  citizens  agreed  to  pay  us  back  simply  the  amount 
rifled  from  us  many  years  before,  and  not  even  that 
amount  without  the  concession,  on  our  part,  of  commer 
cial  advantages  which  she  had  no  right  to  claim,  they 
admit  that  to  violate  such  a  treaty,  in  the  face  of  all  the 
honourable  obligations  which  can  bind  one  nation  to  keep 
faith  with  another,  is  a  degree  of  perfidy  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  characterise  by  too  strong  a  term.  But  fifty 
millions  of  dollars ! — there  is  the  rub.  The  phantom  of 
that  large  sum  of  money  haunts  their  imaginations  and 
appals  their  understanding  !  To  spend  fifty  millions  to 
coerce  France  into  the  payment  of  one  tenth  of  that 
sum  is  a  proceeding  for  which  they  can  find  no  rule  in 
their  political  arithmetic.  If  we  could  compel  France  to 
pay  us  the  debt  at  an  expense  of  two  or  three  millions,  so 
that  we  might  pocket  one  or  two  millions  by  the  opera 
tion,  these  patriotic  journals  would  applaud  the  undertak 
ing.  If  we  could  make  money  by  fighting,  they  would 
be  the  first  to  cry  havoc  !  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war. 
But  the  idea  of  throwing  money  away  for  the  mere 
"  bubble  reputation,''  seems  to  them  exceedingly  prepos 
terous.  National  honour  is  a  phrase  to  which  they  can 
attach  no  import  by  itself;  it  must  be  accompanied  by 
the  expression,  national  profit,  to  give  it  any  significancy 
in  their  eyes. 

We  should  like  to  know  what  opinion  these  worthies 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  119 

entertain  of  the  conduct  of  those  men  who  "  plunged  this 
country  in  all  the  horrors  of  war"  on  account  of  a  pre 
amble,  to  use  Mr.  Webster's  explanation  of  the  matter. 
We  allude  to  the  authors  of  our  revolution.  It  has  never 
been  supposed  that  they  counted  on  making  a  great  deal 
of  money  by  the  enterprise.  They  pledged  their  lives, 
their  fortunes  and  their  sacred  honour  on  the  issue — and 
life  and  fortune  many  of  them  forfeited  ;  but  none  of 
them  their  honour  !  They  entered  into  that  contest  ex- 
pecting  to  endure  great  hardships,  to  make  great  sacri 
fices,  to  expend  vast  treasures,  and  for  what  ?  Not  for  the 
purposes  of  acquiring  fifty  millions  of  dollars  from  Eng 
land,  or  five  millions  ;  but  for  the  simple  acknowledgment 
of  an  abstract  principle.  It  was  enough  for  them  that  the 
principle  of  liberty  was  invaded.  They  did  not  wait 
until  the  consequences  of  the  aggression  should  call  for 
resistance.  They  thought,  as  Mr.  Webster  has  truly  and 
eloquently  represented  (though  for  an  unhallowed  pur 
pose  !)  that  "  whether  the  consequences  be  prejudicial  or 
not,  if  there  be  an  illegal  exercise  of  power,  it  is  to  be 
resisted." 

"  We  are  not  to  wait"  (let  us  borrow  the  language  of 
a  man  whose  words  have  the  weight  of  law  with  the 
opponents  of  the  President)  "  till  great  public  mischiefs 
come ;  till  the  government  is  overthrown  ;  or  liberty 
itself  put  in  extreme  jeopardy.  We  should  not  be  worthy 
sons  of  our  fathers,  were  we  so  to  regard  great  questions 
affecting  the  general  freedom.  Those  fathers  accom 
plished  the  Revolution  on  a  strict  question  of  principle. 
The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  asserted  a  right  to  tax 
the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  and  it  was  precisely 
on  this  question  that  they  made  the  Revolution  turn. 
The  amount  of  taxation  was  trifling,  but  the  claim  itself 
was  inconsistent  with  liberty  ;  and  that  was,  in  their  eyes 
enough.  It  was  against  the  recital  of  an  act  of  Parlia- 


120  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

ment,  rather  than  against  any  suffering  under  its  en 
actments,  that  they  took  up  arras.  They  went  to  war 
against  a  preamble.  They  fought  seven  years  against 
a  declaration.  They  poured  out  their  treasures  and 
their  blood  like  water,  in  a  contest,  in  opposition  to  an 
assertion,  which  those  less  sagacious,  and  not  so  well 
schooled  in  the  principles  of  civil  liberty,  would  have  re 
garded  as  barren  phraseology,  or  mere  parade  of  words. 
On  this  question  of  principle,  while  actual  suffering  was 
yet  afar  off,  they  raised  their  flag  against  a  power  to 
which,  for  purposes  of  foreign  conquest  and  subjugation, 
Rome,  in  the  height  of  her  glory,  is  not  to  be  compared  ; 
a  Power  which  has  dotted  over  the  surface  of  the  whole 
globe  with  her  possessions  and  military  posts ;  whose 
morning  drum-beat,  following  the  sun,  and  keeping  com 
pany  with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  daily  with  one 
continuous  and  unbroken  strain  of  the  martial  airs  of 
England." 

Such  was  the  cause  for  which  our  fathers  fought,  and 
such  the  power  with  which  they  battled.  They  were  of 
that  metal  that  on  a  question  of  honour  or  right  they  did 
not  stop  to  count  the  cost.  Their  minds  were  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  sentiment,  that 

Rightly  to  be  great 

Is,  not  to  stir  without  great  argument, 
But  greatly  to  find  quarrel  in  a  straw, 
Where  honour's  at  the  stake. 

A  portion  of  their  descendants  seem  to  be  animated 
with  very  different  principles.  Those  who  but  recently 
were  ready  for  civil  broil,  who  proclaimed  that  we  were 
on  the  eve  of  a  revolution,  and  on  questions  which  in 
volved  mere  difference  of  political  opinion — questions 
which  the  peaceful  weapon  of  suffrage  was  fully  adequate 
to  decide,— now  start  back  with  well-painted  horror  from 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  121 

the  prospect  of  strife  with  a  foreign  nation,  which,  after 
having  despoiled  our  citizens,  and  trifled  with  our  gov 
ernment,  through  long  years  of  patient  intercession,  has 
at  last  capped  the  climax  of  indignity  by  the  grossest  in 
sult  which  can  be  offered  to  a  sovereign  people  ;  namely, 
by  the  causeless  violation  of  a  solemn  international  pact. 
But  it  is  discovered  that  a  war  with  that  nation  would  be 
attended  with  expense,  and  therefore  it  ought  not  to  be 
undertaken !  Money,  according  to  these  journals,  is  of 
more  value  than  honour.  Let  a  foreign  nation  tread  on 
you  and  spit  on  you,  and  bear  it  meekly,  if  it  will  cost 
you  money  to  avenge  the  insult !  Such  at  least  is  the 
precept  to  be  inferred  from  their  remarks. 

It  is  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  this  precept,  we  pre 
sume,  that  the  public  have  been  treated,  in  various  jour 
nals,  with  highly  coloured  pictures  of  the  evils  of  war. 
Our  merchants  have  been  represented  as  prostrated,  our 
ships  rotting  at  the  wharves,  our  shores  lighted  with  con 
flagrations,  and  the  ocean  incarnadined  with  slaughter. 
The  tears  of  widows  have  streamed  through  the  pens  of 
these  pathetic  gentlemen,  and  the  cries  of  orphans  have 
been  heard  in  the  clatter  of  their  presses.  Pirates  and 
marauders  infest  every  line  they  write,  and  the  thunders 
of  a  naval  conflict  roar  in  every  paragraph.  It  is  fortu 
nate,  however,  that  the  reader  can  turn  from  these  dis 
mal  forebodings  to  the  sober  pages  of  history,  and  learn 
how  far  the  truth,  in  relation  to  the  past,  sustains  these 
fancy  sketches  of  the  future.  What  is  the  fact  ?  We 
have  passed  through  two  wars  with  the  most  formidable 
power  on  earth,  and  yet  survive,  to  prove  to  France,  by 
force  of  arms,  if  it  should  be  necessary,  that  while  we 
ask  nothing  that  is  not  clearly  right,  we  will  submit  to 
nothing  that  is  wrong. 

But  this  extremity  will  not  be  necessary.  France  has 
trifled  with  us,  but  she  will  repair  the  wrong.  Should 
VOL.  I — 11 


122  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

she  not— should  she,  through  the  duplicity  of  her  king, 
or  the  misapprehension  of  her  deputies,  or  wilful  slight, 
or  any  other  cause,  persist  in  denying  us  our  right,  we 
even  yet  propose  to  pursue  only  the  mildest  and  most  paci 
fic  course.  The  nature  of  reprisals  is  too  clearly  establish- 
ed  to  need  newspaper  elucidation.  It  is  unnecessary  to  load 
our  columns  with  extracts  from  Grotius  or  PufFendorf,  from 
Burlemaqui  or  Vattel,  for  the  laws  of  nations  rest  on  the 
plain  principles  of  equity  ;  and  what  can  be  more  obvi 
ously  just  than  our  right  to  detain  the  property  of  France 
for  the  purpose  of  defraying  her  acknowledged  debt, 
should  she  adhere  to  her  strange  refusal  to  comply  with 
her  own  promise  of  payment  ?  Such  seizure  and  de 
tention  of  property  affords  a  nation  no  ground  for  war  ; 
any  more  than  an  individual,  whose  property  has  been 
taken  by  due  course  of  law  to  satisfy  his  debts,  is  fur 
nished  by  that  proceeding  with  a  justification  for  murder. 
They,  therefore,  who  treat  the  proposed  measure  of  re 
prisals  as  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  war,  do  great  in 
justice  to  the  character  of  France  ;  as  if  that  nation 
were  governed  by  so  unfriendly  a  feeling  towards  this 
young  republic,  that  she  would  eagerly  seize  any  pretext 
to  fight  with  us,  though  all  the  world  must  perceive  that 
our  Government  has  claimed  nothing  but  its  rights. 

That  the  conduct  of  France  will  be  so  contrary  to  that 
liberal  spirit  which  animates  her  people  we  can  not  be 
lieve,  and  shall  not,  till  some  stronger  evidence  is  afforded 
than  the  predictions  of  those  who  are  even  eager  to  for- 
tell  "war,  pestilence,  and  famine"  as  the  necessary  con 
sequences  of  the  administration  of  a  man  who  has  done 
more  to  elevate  our  character  abroad,  promote  our  prosper 
ity  at  home,  and  revive  and  secure  the  great  principle  of 
equal  liberty  than  any  other  man  that  ever  lived  in  the  tide 
of  time.  But  if  war  must  come  of  our  asserting  our  rights, 
let  it  come  !  Much  as  we  should  regret,  on  various  ac- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  123 

counts,  any  collision  with  France,  we  would  not  avoid 
strife  even  with  that  country  at  the  expense  of  national 
honour  or  justice.  We  are  prepared  for  any  event. 
True,  certain  members  of  Congress  exclaimed  withjjaffect- 
ed  horror,  "  What !  plunge  into  war  with  an  empty 
treasury  !"  But  heaven  grant  that  we  may  never  have 
a  full  treasury.  We  desire  to  see  no  surplus  revenue  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Government,  to  be  squandered  in  vast 
schemes  of  internal  improvements,  or  prove  an  apple  of 
discord  to  rouse  the  jealousy  and  enmity  of  different  sec 
tions  of  the  country.  If  we  have  not  the  money  in  the 
treasury,  we  have  it  in  the  pockets  of  the  people.  Our 
wide  and  fruitful  territory  is  loaded  with  abundance. 
Plenty  smiles  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  land. 
The  voice  of  thanksgiving  ascends  to  heaven  from  the 
grateful  hearts  of  millions  of  happy  freemen.  Our  Go- 
vernment  owes  not  one  dollar  of  public  debt,  and  its  cra- 
dit  is  unbounded,  for  its  basis  is  the  affections  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  its  resources  are  coextensive  with  their  wealth. 
Let  it  become  necssary  again  for  that  Government  to 
maintain  its  honour  at  the  hazard  of  war,  though  it 
should  even  be  "  against  a  preamble,"  and  we  shall  again 
find  that  a  people  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  principle 
of  liberty  are  ever  ready  to  pledge  their  lives,  their  for 
tunes,  and  their  sacred  honour  in  support  of  such  a 
quarrel. 

But  another  objection  is  found  to  the  Presidenets  pro 
posal,  that  it  will  build  up  a  national  debt.  A  national 
debt  is  certainly  a  national  evil ;  but  it  is  not  the  worst 
evil  that  can  befal  a  nation.  And  the  argument  that  we 
should  waive  on  just  claims  for  indemnity  from  France, 
rather  than  incur  the  hazard  of  debt,  comes  with  an  ill 
grace  from  that  party  of  which  it  has  always  been  a 
leading  maxim  that  a  national  debt  is  a  blessing  instead 
of  a  curse.  This  sentiment  is  entwined  with  the  very 
heartstrings  of  aristocracy — if,  indeed,  aristocracy  has  a 


124  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

heart.  Its  doctrine  has  always  been  that  a  public  debt 
gives  solidity  to  the  Government,  creates  in  the  bosoms 
of  a  vast  number  of  people  a  strong  peisonal  interest  in 
its  welfare,  consolidates  in  its  favour  all  the  moneyed  in 
fluence  of  the  country,  strengthens  its  power,  and  gives 
permanence  to  its  duration.  For  the  disciples  of  this 
school  now  to  cry  out  against  measures  which  involve 
the  possibility  of  war,  because  war  would  create  a  public 
debt,  is  a  degree  of  hypocrisy  and  inconsistency  which 
scarcely  deserves  reply. 

There  is  another  ground  of  objection  which  strikes  us 
as  equally  preposterous.  They  deprecate  war  lest  the 
power  of  conducting  it  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  Gen- 
eral  Jackson  !  And  into  whose  hands,  in  the  name  of 
common  sense  and  common  honesty,  could  such  a  power 
be  so  wisely  and  advantageously  entrusted  ?  Why,  the 
whole  sum  and  substance  of  the  opposition  clamour 
against  the  Chief  Magistrate,  has  been  on  the  ground  that 
he  is  a  Military  Chieftain — that  he  was  qualified  to  rule 
in  the  camp  or  battle-field,  but  was  too  dictatorial  to  pre 
side  over  the  peaceful  councils  of  the  nation.  His  talents 
as  a  soldier  have  never  been  disputed.  His  sagacity, 
bravery,  alertness,  energy  are  qualities  notorious  to  the 
world.  What !  the  war  power  not  to  be  trusted  into  the 
hands  of  Andrew  Jackson  !  a  soldier  almost  from  his  cra 
dle  ;  a  champion  who  has  contended  alike  against  the 
native  savages  of  our  forest  and  the  most  disciplined 
troops  of  Europe  ;  who  has  encountered  all  sort  of  foes, 
and  always  with  success.  What,  not  trust  the  war-power 
with  the  Hero  of  New-Orleans  ?  Put  up  with  a  gross 
affront  from  France,  rather  than  confide  our  quarrel  to  a 
a  man  who,  of  all  men  living,  is  best  entitled  to  the  confi 
dence  of  the  people,  best  qualified  to  conduct  the  strife  to 
a  prosperous  result !  Nothing  can  exceed  the  utter  ab 
surdity  of  this  objection. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  125 

But  let  it  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  all  the  objections  to 
the  suggestions  of  General  Jackson  relative  to  our  rela 
tions  with  France,  are  founded  on  false  assumptions. 
No  "war  power,"  no  "discretionary  power'' is  asked. 
No  proposition  of  a  belligerant  kind  is  offered.  No  me 
nace  is  held  out.  His  allusions  to  France  are  in  the 
kindest  and  most  conciliatory  spirit,  and  the  most  lively 
regret  is  manifested  that  the  failure  of  that  country  to 
perform  its  solemn  covenant  has  forced  upon  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  this  the  necessity  of  adverting  to  the  mea 
sures  which  may  become  necessary,  in  case  she  should 
show  no  disposition  to  redeem  her  violated  faith.  The 
spirit  of  General  Jackson's  message  is  the  spirit  which 
we  trust  this  Government  will  always  display  to  the  Go 
vernments  of  other  nations.  It  is  neither  dictatorial  nor 
submissive ;  neither  boisterous  nor  wheedling.  Calm, 
temperate,  firm,  it  affords  to  France  no  excuse  for  resent 
ment,  and  will  command  the  respect  and  admiration  of 
other  foreign  nations.  We  wish  that  journalists,  who,  be- 
neath  all  the  scum  and  crust  of  party  prejudices  and  pas 
sions  have  the  true  interest  and  glory  of  their  country  at 
heart,  would  adopt  a  similar  tone — 

"  Let  us  appear  not  rash  nor  diffident : 
Immoderate  valour  swells  into  a  fault, 
And  fear  admitted  into  public  counsels, 
Betrays  like  treason  :  let  us  shun  them  both." 


UTOPIA— SIR  THOMAS  MORE— JACK  CADE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  December  18, 1834.] 
Not  many  days  ago  we  placed  before  our  readers  some 
pregnant  reasons  for  thinking  that  the  epithet  of  Utopian, 
which  has  been  applied   to  the  doctrines  advanced  by 
this  journal  on  the  subject  of  corporations  and  other  cog. 
11* 


126  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

nate  matters,  is  not,  after  all,  the  worst  name  with  which 
the  efforts  of  a  zealous  advocate  of  equal  rights  may  bev 
branded  by  the  aristocratic  enemies  of  that  principle. 
We  showed  that  the  word  is  derived  from  the  title  of  a 
speculative  work,  written  by   a  man  of  great  powers  of 
mind,  great  purity  of  life,  and  great  love  for  the  best  inte 
rests  of  his  fellow-men.      Those  who  are  familiar  with 
the  history   of  Sir  Thomas  More  cannot  but  admire  his 
character.     He  was  a  man  whose  doctrines  and  whose 
life  were  coincident.     His  very  first  public  act  was  to 
place  himself  in  prominent  and  uncompromising  opposi 
tion  to  the  rapacious  demands  of  a   powerful  monarch, 
though  by  doing  so  he  brought   down  on  his  own  parent 
the    most  rigorous  punishment  that  unbridled  tyranny 
dared  to  inflict.     He  subsequently,  with  equal  boldness 
and  integrity,  incurred  the  resentment  of  the  haughty 
Wolsey,  by   strenuously   opposing  his  oppressive  mea 
sures.     Again,  when  afterwards  elevated,  under  the  im 
perious  and  licentious  Henry  the  Eighth,  to  the  office  of 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  he  relinquished  the  seals 
and  retired  from  that  high  station,  provoking  the  lasting 
enmity  of  the  king,  rather  than  consent  to  his  divorce 
from  Catharine  of  Arragon.     And  finally,  persecuted  by 
the  vindictive  monarch  under  various  pretences,  he  at 
length  yielded  up  his  life  on  the  scaffold,  preferring  death 
to  violating  the  dictates  of  his  conscience. 

Such  was  the  man  whose  admirable  work  on  Govern, 
ments,  veiled  under  a  thin  disguise  of  fiction,  has  given  to 
the  language  a  word,  which  monarchical  and  aristocratic 
writers  are  fond  of  bandying  as  expressive  of  the  wildest 
dreams  of  visionaries  and  lunatics.  Whether  the  produc 
tion  deserves  such  a  character  from  republicans,  let  those 
judge  who  are  acquainted  with  its  contents,  or  who  pe 
rused  the  extracts  which  we  placed  before  our  readers.  It 
is  a  work  replete  with  political  truth  and  wisdom.  Many 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  127 

of  its  doctrines  have  since  been  adopted  by  the  wisest 
statesmen  ;  many  of  them  have  a  conspicuous  place  in 
the  democratic  theory  of  our  Government ;  and  many 
others  are  destined  yet  to  force  their  way,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  aristocratic  selfishness  and  pride,  not  only 
in  this  young  republic,  but  in  the  king-governed  nations 
of  the  old  world. 

Reason  there  is  that  despots  and  the  parasites  of  despots 
should  treat  such  views  as  the  impracticable  theories  of 
dreamers  and  enthusiasts.  But  in  this  country,  blessed 
with  freedom  above  all  others ;  blessed  with  a  Govern- 
ment  founded  on  the  broad  basis  of  Equal  Rights  ;  in  this 
country,  where  the  people  are  the  sole  source  of  power, 
and  their  equal  good  its  sole  legitimate  object  ;  where 
there  are  neither  lords  nor  serfs,  masters  nor  bondmen,  but 
where  rich  and  poor,  learned  and  unlearned,  proud  and 
humble,  move  and  mingle  on  one  unvarying  plane  of  po 
litical  equality — in  this  country  we  ought  to  reject  the 
prejudices  and  cant  of  other  lands,  and  think,  and  reason, 
and  act  for  ourselves. 

That  all  the  views  of  Sir  Thomas  More  are  practicable 
we  by  no  means  contend  ;  and  strange  indeed  would  it 
have  been  if  one  living  at  his  time,  and  under  such  a 
constitution  of  society,  could  so  far  have  outsoared  man 
kind,  as  to  prefigure  a  government  in  all  respects  adapted 
to  the  rights,  wants  and  capacities  of  man  in  a  state  of  ab 
solute  political  and  religious  freedom.  But  if  his  theory 
of  Government  is  not  in  all  respects  sound,  it  is  at  least 
full  of  important  truths;  and  the  aristocratic  abuses 
which  prompted  his  meditations  are  accurately  and  vi 
vidly  delineated,  as  are  the  hydra  evils,  political  and  so 
cial,  of  which  they  constitute  the  prolific  source. 

The  lesson  which  his  work  teaches,  then,  is  highly  im- 
portant,  if  no  other  than  to  guard  with  sleepless  vigilance 
the  great  palladium  of  freedom,  the  principle  of  equal 


128  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

rights  ;  to  guard  it  against  the  first  insidious  approaches 
of  that  spirit  which  is  ever  seeking  to  subject  the  many 
to  the  will  of  the  few  ;  which  comes  with  professions  of 
zeal  for  the  public  good  on  its  lips,  and  with  its  heart  top- 
ful  of  schemes  of  self-aggrandizement  and  ambition.  Let 
the  people  •  examine  well  into  the  true  designs  of  those 
who  betray  this  suspicious  ardour  of  philantropy,  caring 
all  for  the  public,  and  nothing  for  themselves.  When 
they  hear  the  oft-repeated  cant  about  "stimulating  the 
industry  of  the  country,"  "  developing  its  vast  resources," 
and  the  like,  let  them  inquire  how  much  this  stimu 
lus  is  to  cost,  and  let  them  remember,  if  it  is  to  be  pur 
chased  by  the  surrender  of  one  jot  or  tittle  of  their  equal 
privileges,  the  price  is  infinitely  too  dear.  These  are  the 
sentiments  which  they  will  derive  from  a  perusal  of  Sir 
Thomas  More's  excellent  work,  and  let  them  not  fear  to 
entertain  and  act  upon  these  sentiments,  though  by  do 
ing  so  they  should  incur  from  the  aristocracy  the  epithet 
of  Utopian. 

But  the  opponents  of  the  doctrines  we  advocate,  as  if 
calling  names  were  a  certain  method  of  overthrowing  our 
arguments,  are  not  content  with  stigmatizing  our  views 
as  Utopian,  but  bestow  the  appellation  of  Jack  Cade 
upon  ourselves.  Thus,  an  article  in  the  Courier  and  En 
quirer  of  this  morning,  after  grossly  misstating  the  objects 
for  which  we  contend,  and  indulging  in  much  groundless 
abuse,  at  last  closes  with  what  the  writer  may  have  sup 
posed  the  very  climax  of  invective,  by  designating  us  as 
"  the  Jack  Cade  of  the  Evening  Post." 

Here  again  we  see  the  readiness  of  our  opponents  to 
adopt  the  aristocratic  cant  of  those  countries,  the  Govern 
ments  of  which  repudiate  the  principle  of  equal  liberty, 
and  exert  their  powers  to  concentrate  all  wealth  and  pri 
vilege  in  the  hands  of  a  few.  It  is  heart-sickening  to  see 
men,  citizens  of  this  free  republic  and  partakers  of  its 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  129 

equal  blessings,  thus  assume  without  examination,  and 
use  without  scruple,  as  terms  of  reproach,  the  epithets 
with  which  lying  historians  and  panders  to  royalty  have 
branded  those,  whose  only  crime  was  their  opposing,  with 
noble  ardour  and  courage,  the  usurpations  of  tyranny, 
and  setting  themselves  up  as  assertors  of  the  natural  and 
inalienable  rights  of  their  oppressed  fellow-men. 

Have  the  editors  who  use  the  name  of  Cade  as  a  word 
of  scorn  looked  into  the  history  of  that  heroic  man? 
Have  they  sifted  out,  from  the  mass  of  prejudice,  bigotry 
and  servility,  which  load  the  pages  of  the  old  chroniclers, 
the  facts  in  relation  to  his  extraordinary  career  1  Have 
they  acquainted  themselves  with  the  oppressions  of  the 
times  ;  the  lawless  violence  of  the  nobles  ;  the  folly  and 
rapacity  of  the  monarch ;  the  extortion  and  cruelty  of  his 
ministers  ;  and  the  general  contempt  which  was  mani 
fested  for  the  plainest  and  dearest  rights  of  humanity  ? 
Have  they  consulted  the  pages  of  Stow,  and  Hall,  and 
Hollingshed,  who,  parasites  of  royalty  as  they  were,  and 
careful  to  exclude  from  their  chronicles  whatever  might 
grate  harshly  on  the  delicate  ears  of  the  privileged  orders, 
have  yet  not  been  able  to  conceal  the  justice  of  the  cause 
for  which  Cade  contended,  the  moderation  of  his  demands, 
or  the  extraordinary  forbearance  of  his  conduct  ?  Have 
they  looked  into  these  matters  for  themselves,  and  divest 
ing  the  statements  of  the  gloss  of  prejudice  and  servility, 
judged  of  the  man  by  a  simple  reference  to  the  facts  of 
his  conduct,  and  the  nature  and  strength  of  his  motives  ? 
Or  have  they  been  content  to  learn  his  character  from 
the  scenes  of  a  play,  or  the  pages  of  that  king-worshipper, 
that  pimp  and  pander  to  aristocracy,  the  tory  Hume,  who 
was  ever  ready  to  lick  absurd  pomp,  and  give  a  name  of 
infamy  to  any  valiant  spirit  that  had  the  courage  and 
true  nobleness  to  stand  forward  in  defence  of  the  rights 
of  his  fellow-men  ? 


130  POLITICAL     WRITINGS    OF 

Let  those  who  use  the  name  of  Cade  as  a  term  of  re 
proach  remember  that  the  obloquy  which  blackens  his 
memory  flowed  from  the  same  slanderous  pens  that  de 
nounced  as  rebels  and  traitors,  and  with  terms  of  equal 
bitterness,  though  not  of  equal  contumely,  the  Hampdens 
and  Sydneys  of  England—glorious  apostles  and  martyrs 
in  the  cause  of  civil  liberty !  Let  them  remember,  too, 
that,  as  the  philosophic  Mackintosh  observes,  all  we  know 
of  Cade  is  through  his  enemies — a  fact  which  of  itself 
would  impress  a  just  and  inquiring  mind  with  the  necessi 
ty  of  examination  for  itself,  before  adopting  the  current 
slang  of  the  aristocracy  of  Great  Britain. 

The  very  name  of  Jack  Cade,  if  we  take  the  pains  to 
look  into  contemporary  historians,  is  but  a  nick-name 
conferred  upon  the  leader  of  the  Kentish  insurrection,  in 
order  to  increase  the  obloquy  with  which  it  was  the  policy 
of  Henry  the  Sixth  and  his  licentious  nobles  to  load  the 
memory  of  that  heroic  and  treacherously-murdered  man. 
But  whatever  was  his  name  or  origin,  and  whatever 
might  have  been  his  private  motives  and  character,  if  we 
judge  of  him  by  the  authentic  facts  of  history  alone,  we 
shall  find  nothing  that  does  not  entitle  him  to  the  admira 
tion  of  men  who  set  a  true  value  on  liberty,  and  revere 
those  who  peril  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honour  to  achieve  it  from  the  grasp  of  tyrants,  or  defend 
it  against  their  encroachments.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
grossness  of  the  oppressions  under  which  the  people  la 
boured  when  Cade  took  up  arms.  Nothing  can  exceed 
the  arbitrary  violence  with  which  their  property  was 
wrested  from  their  hands,  or  the  ignominious  punishments 
which  were  causelessly  inflicted  on  their  persons.  The 
kingdom  was  out  of  joint.  An  imbecile  and  rapacious 
monarch  on  the  throne  ;  a  band  of  licentious  and  factious 
nobles  around  him  ;  a  parliament  ready  to  impose  any 
exactions  on  the  commons ;  and  all  the  minor  offices  of 


WILLIAM     LEGGBTT.  131 

Government  filled  with  a  species  of  freebooters,  who 
deemed  the  possession  of  the  people  their  lawful  prey — in 
such  a  state  of  things,  the  burdens  under  which  the  great 
mass  of  Englishmen  laboured  must  have  been  severe  in 
the  extreme. 

If  Cade  was  the  wretched  fanatic  which  it  has  pleased 
the  greatest  dramatic  genius  of  the  world  (borrowing  his 
idea  of  that  noble  rebel  from  old  Hollingshed)  to  repre 
sent  him,  how  did  it  happen  that  twenty  thousand  men 
flocked  to  his  standard  the  moment  it  was  unfurled? 
How  did  it  happen  that  his  statement  of  grievances  was 
so  true,  and  his  demands  for  redress  so  moderate,  that, 
even  according  to  Hume  himself,  "  the  Council,  observing 
that  nobody  was  willing  to  fight  against  men  so  reason 
able  in  their  pretensions,  carried  the  King  for  safety  to 
Kenilworth  ? "  How  did  it  happen,  as  related  by  Fabian, 
that  the  duke  of  Buckingham  and  the  archbishop  of  Can 
terbury  being  sent  to  negotiate  with  him,  were  obliged  to 
acknowledge  that  they  found  him  "  right  discrete  in  his 
answers  ;  howbeit  they  could  not  cause  him  to  lay  down 
his  people,  and  to  submit  him  (unconditionally)  unto  the 
king's  grace."  But  we  need  not  depend  upon  the  opinions 
of  historians  for  the  reasonableness  of  his  demands.  Hol 
lingshed  has  recorded  his  list  of  grievances  and  stipula 
tions  of  redress  ;  and  let  those  who  think  the  term  Jack 
Cade  synonymous  with  ignorant  and  ferocious  rebel  and 
traitor,  examine  it ;  let  them  compare  it  with  the  griev- 
ances  which  led  our  fathers  to  take  up  arms  against  their 
mother  country,  nor  lay  them  down  until  they  achieved 
a  total  separation  ;  let  them  look  at  it  in  reference  to 
what  would  be  their  own  feelings  under  a  tithe  part  of 
the  wrongs ;  and,  our  life  on  it,  they  will  pause  before 
they  again  use  the  word  in  such  a  sense.  Nay  more  : 
let  them  follow  Cade  through  his  whole  career  ;  let  them 
behold  him  in  the  midst  of  insurrection,  checking  the 


132  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

natural  fierceness  of  his  followers,  restraining  their  pas 
sions,  and  compelling  them  by  the  severest  orders  to  res 
pect  private  property  ;  see  him  withdrawing  his  forces 
each  night  from  London,  when  he  had  taken  possession 
of  that  city,  that  its  inhabitants  might  sleep  without  fear 
or  molestation  ;  mark  him  continually  endeavouring  to 
fix  the  attention  of  the  people  solely  on  those  great  ends 
of  public  right  and  justice  for  which  alone  he  had  placed 
himself  in  arms  against  his  king  :  let  them  look  at  Cade 
in  these  points  of  view,  and  we  think  their  unfounded 
prejudices  will  speedily  give  way  to  very  different  senti 
ments. 

Follow  him  to  the  close  of  his  career ;  see  him  deserted 
by  his  followers,  under  a  general  but  deceitful  promise  of 
pardon  from  the  Government ;  trace  him  afterwards  a 
fugitive  through  the  country  with  a  reward  set  upon  his 
head,  in  violation  of  the  edict  which  but  a  few  days  be- 
fore  had  dissolved  him  of  the  crime  of  rebellion  on  condi 
tion  of  laying  down  his  arms ;  behold  him  at  last  en 
trapped  by  a  wretch  and  basely  murdered  ;  weigh  his 
whole  character  as  exhibited  by  all  the  prominent  traits 
of  his  life  and  fortune,  remembering  too  that  all  you  know 
of  him  is  from  those  who  dipped  their  pens  in  ink  only  to 
blacken  his  name  !  and  you  will  at  last  be  forced  to  ac 
knowledge  that  instead  of  the  scorn  of  mankind,  he  deserves 
to  be  ranked  among  those  glorious  martyrs,  who  have 
sacrificed  their  lives  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  man. 
The  derision  and  contumely  which  have  been  heaped  on 
Cade,  would  have  been  heaped  on  those  who  achieved  the 
liberty  of  this  country,  had  they  been  equally  unsuccess 
ful  in  their  struggle.  It  ill  then  becomes  republicans, 
enjoying  the  freedom  which  they  achieved,  admiring  the 
intrepidity  of  their  conduct,  and  revering  their  memory, 
to  use  the  name  of  one  who  sacrificed  his  life  in  an  ill- 
starred  effort  in  defence  of  the  same  glorious  and  univer- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  133 

sal  principles  of  equal  liberty,  as  a  by-word  and  term  of 
mockery  and  reproach. 

Cade  was  defeated,  and  his  very  name  lies  buried  un 
derneath  the  rubbish  of  ages.  But  his  example  did  not 
die ; 

For  freedom's  battle  once  begun, 
Bequeathed  from  bleeding  sire  to  son, 
Though  often  lost  is  ever  won. 

Those  who  are  curious  in  historical  research  may 
easily  trace  the  influence  of  the  principles  which  Cade 
battled  to  establish,  through  succeeding  reigns.  If  they 
follow  the  stream  of  history  from  the  sixth  Henry  down 
wards,  they  will  find  that  the  same  sentiments  of  freedom 
were  continually  breaking  away  from  the  restraints  of 
tyranny,  and  that  the  same  grievances  complained  of  by 
the  leader  of  the  Kentish  insurrection,  were  the  main 
cause  of  all  the  risings  of  the  Commons,  till  at  last  the  cup 
of  oppression,  filled  to  overflowing,  was  dashed  to  the 
earth  by  an  outraged  people,  the  power  of  the  throne  was 
shaken  to  its  centre,  and  the  evils  under  which  men  long 
had  groaned,  were  remedied  by  a  revolution. 

Let  readers  not  take  things  upon  trust.     Let  them  not 
be  turned  away  from  doctrines  which  have  for  their  ob 
ject  the  more  complete  establishment  of  the  great  princi 
ple  of  equal  rights,  by  the  reproachful  epithets  of  aristo 
cratic  writers.       Let  them,  above  all,  not  take  the  worn 
out  slang  of  other  countries  as  equivalent  to  argument ; 
but  subjecting  every  thing  to  the  touchstone  of  good  sense 
and  candid  examination,  try  for  themselves  what  is  cur 
rent  gold,  and  what  is  spurious  coin.     If  they  look  well 
into  the  true  meaning  of  words,  they  will  discover  that 
neither  Agrarian  nor  Utopian  is  a  term  of  very  deep  dis 
grace  ;  that  to  be  called  a  Jack  Cade  is  rather  compli 
mentary  than  discreditable  ;   and  that  even  the  dreaded 
VOL.  L— 12 


134  POLITIC.AL    WRITINGS     OF 

name  of  Jacobin  has  not  half  so  odious  a  meaning  as 
people  are  apt  to  suppose.  In  studying  the  histories  of 
other  countries,  he  shows  a  true  American  feeling,  who 
separates  facts  from  the  prejudices  of  the  writer,  and 
forms  conclusions  for  himself  as  to  character  and  events 
in  the  great  drama  of  existence. 


TO  WILLIAM  L.   MARCY, 

GOVERNOR    OF   THE    STATE     OF     NEW-YORK. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Dec.  24, 1834.] 
Recent  events  have  fixed  the  eyes  of  the  Democracy  of 
this  State  with  great  interest  upon  you.  They  await 
your  Message  with  much  anxiety.  Not  even  the  admira 
ble  and  truly  democratic  state  paper  lately  addressed  to 
Congress  by  the  National  Executive  was  perused  with 
greater  eagerness  and  attention,  than  will  be  that  com 
munication  which  your  duty  will  soon  require  you  to  lay 
before  the  Legislature.  Circumstances  have  arisen  to 
create  a  very  extensive  apprehension  that  the  will  of  the 
people,  on  a  question  deeply  interesting  in  its  nature, 
and  one  on  which  their  sentiments  have  been  clearly  ex 
pressed,  will  be  disregarded  by  their  servants  ;  and  to 
you,  as  their  chief  servant,  they  look  with  fear  and  trem 
bling,  lest  that  confidence  which  they  have  expressed  by 
their  suffrages  in  your  intelligence  and  integrity  should 
prove  to  have  been  misplaced.  We  shall  not,  in  a  false 
spirit  of  courtesy,  or  unrepublican  strain  of  adulation, 
affect  to  deny  that  we  largely  partake  of  these  fears ; 
nor  shall  we  hesitate,  with  that  freedom  and  frankness 
which  become  democrats,  looking  upon  you,  not  as  their 
master,  but  as  their  representative,  to  lay  before  you 
such  views  as  we  think  ought  to  govern  your  conduct  on 
the  subject  to  which  we  allude. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  135 

It  is  a  truth,  susceptible  of  the  clearest  demonstration 
that  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  this  state  have  express 
ed  themselves  decidedly  opposed  to  the  incorporation  of 
any  new  banks,  and  as  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  with 
drawal  of  all  bank-notes  of  a  less  denomination  than  five 
dollars  from  circulation.     A  very  cursory  reference  to 
the  proceedings  of  town  and  county  meetings,  previous 
to  the  late  election,  must  satisfy  any  candid  mind  that 
this  was  one  of  the  leading  favourite  objects  of  the  demo 
cracy.     Situated  where  you  are,  and  having  necessarily 
some  knowledge  of  the  mode  by  which  those  who  assume 
to  be  "  leading  politicians"  sometimes  contrive   to  stifle 
the  expressions  of  the  people,  or  weaken  their  force,  or 
perplex  them  with  ambiguities,  you  may  readily  conclude 
that  public  sentiment  is  in  reality  much  more  adverse  to 
banks  and  a  small  note  currency,  and  the  desire  for  the 
speedy  extinction  of  the  latter  is  much  stronger  and 
urgent  than  would  even  appear  by  the  tone  of  the  pub 
lished  proceedings  of  democratic  meetings. 

It  may  not  be  known  to  you,  however,  that,  by  a  fraud 
of  so  atrocious  a  character  that   no  name  of  infamy 
would  be  too  strong  to  apply  to  it,  some  of  those  who 
take  upon  themselves  the  task  of  guiding  and  regulating 
public  opinion,  have  had  the  hardihood,  in  certain  impor 
tant  instances,  to  forge  resolutions  on  the  subject  of  banks 
and  currency,  and  put  them  forth  as  a  part  of  the  pro 
ceedings   of  [Democratic  Conventions,   though    entirely 
different  in  their  tenor  from  the  resolutions  which  wer^ 
really  adopted.     It  may  not  be  known  to  you,  for  exam 
ple,  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Young  Men's  Herkimer 
Convention  underwent,  in  very  important  respects,  this 
audacious  mutation.     That  Convention  consisted  of  a 
very  numerous  body  of  the  delegated  representatives   of 
by  far  the  largest  and  most  active  class  of  the  democra 
cy  of  this  state  ;  and  it  comprised  as  much  intelligence, 


136  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

patriotism  and  discretion,  as  any  assembly  of  political 
delegates  which  was  ever  convened  on  any  like  occasion 
in  our  country.  What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of 
those  honourable  delegates,  when  the  published  account 
of  their  proceedings  was  placed  in  their  hands,  to  per 
ceive  resolutions  ascribed  to  them  which  they  never  adopt- 
ed?  to  see  other  resolutions,  on  important  subjects,  so 
changed  by  interpolations  and  omissions,  as  to  have  lost 
all  the  force  and  efficacy  of  their  original  tenor?  and  to  find, 
also,  that  resolutions,  expressing  the  sense  of  the  meeting 
on  questions  of  great  and  pervading  interest,  had  been 
wholly  expunged  1 

Such  was  literally  the  fact !  The  proceedings  of  that 
Convention,  as  published,  were  not  the  proceedings  which 
took  place  !  The  account  was  a  forgery  !  The  hand 
of  political  knavery  had  been  employed  upon  it,  and  had 
changed  the  sentiments  of  the  convention  to  sentiments 
in  accordance  with  what  the  "party  leaders"  had 
then,  no  doubt,  laid  out  as  the  course  to  be  pursued  by 
our  legislature  on  those  great  questions  of  state  policy 
which  have  agitated  the  public  mind  for  a  long  time 
past.  We  desire  to  express  ourselves  explicitly.  We 
distinctly  charge  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Young 
Men's  Herkimer  Convention  were  materially  alter- 
ed  in  Albany.  We  charge,  in  particular,  that  the  resolu 
tion  on  the  subject  of  the  suppression  of  small  notes,  and 
the  substitution  of  a  metallic  currency,  was  so  transform 
ed,  in  Albany,  by  additions  and  omissions,  as  to  be  of 
very  different  and  far  feebler  and  more  qualified  import, 
than  was  the  resolution  as  passed  by  the  Convention, 
and  transmitted  to  that  place  for  publication.  We 
charge,  also,  that  another  resolution,  on  a  cognate  subject, 
in  which  the  sense  of  the  Convention  was  strongly  ex 
pressed  against  all  monopolies  whatever,  was,  by  the  Al 
bany  junto,  wholly  suppressed. 


WILLIAM    L  E  G  G  E  T  T  .  137 

These  are  some  of  the  facts  which  authorize  us  in  say. 
ing  that  the  sentiments  of  the  democracy  of  this  State, 
are  much  more  hostile  to  banks  and  a  small  note  curren 
cy  than  might  be  inferred  from  the  language  of  their  pub 
lished  proceedings.  We  by  no  means  mean  to  be  consid 
ered  as  intimating  that  you  have  had  any  share  in  the 
gross  frauds  which  have  been  practised  upon  the  people, 
or  that  you  have  been  in  any  degree  accessory  to  them. 
But  it  is  a  fact  susceptible  of  proof,  that  these  frauds 
have  been  committed. 

Taking  it  as  a  point  conceded,  then,  that  the  senti 
ments  of  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  this  state  are  in 
favour  of  the  suppression  of  all  bank  notes  of  a  smaller 
denomination  than  five  dollars,  let  us  ask  what  reasona 
ble  pretence  can  be  urged  why  this  measure  should  be 
postponed  to  a  future  day  ?  Was  there  ever  a  time  in 
this  country  when  this  reform  in  our  currency  could  be 
so  easily  effected  as  now  ?  Was  there  ever  a  time  when 
such  a  vast  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  was  accumulated 
in  our  banking  houses,  and  only  restrained  from  filling 
up  the  channels  of  circulation,  and  flowing  in  healthful 
currents  through  the  country  by  every  vein  and  artery 
being  previously  occupied  with  the  sickly,  worthless  trash 
which  has  so  long  supplied  the  place  of  constitutional 
money  1  Our  country  contains,  at  this  moment,  twenty 
millions  of  dollars  in  specie  more  than  it  did  a  twelve 
month  ago,  and  the  most  exaggerated  calculation  of  the 
amount  of  our  small  note  currency  does  not  make  it  more 
than  fifteen  millions.  The  specie  which  we  now  have 
within  our  control  will  desert  us  soon,  unless  it  be  de 
tained  by  the  legislative  reform  which  the  public  voice  de 
mands.  Paper  and  gold  cannot  circulate  together.  The 
banks  are  discounting  freely,  and  the  spirit  of  specula- 
tion,  recovered  from  the  shock  which  it  received  a  year 
ago,  is  already  engaged  in  hazardous  enterprizes.  Bank 
12* 


138  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

notes  are  the  aliment  on  which  speculation  subsists,  and 
there  is  something  in  the  quality  of  that  nutriment  which 
seems  fatal  to  caution  and  prudence.  Already  our  mer 
chants  are  importing  largely.  Stocks  have  risen  in  va. 
lue,  and  land  is  selling  at  extravagant  rates.  Every 
thing  begins  to  wear  the  highly-prosperous  aspect  which 
foretokens  commercial  revulsion.  If  nothing  should  oc 
cur  to  check  the  "liberality"  of  the  banks,  our  gold  and 
silver  must  soon  desert  us,  to  pay  for  the  excess  of  our  im 
portations  over  the  amount  of  our  exports.  Upon  this 
there  will  follow  rigorous  curtailments  of  discounts  on 
the  part  of  those  institutions  which  are  now  lavish  of 
their  favours.  After  having  pampered  the  public  into 
commercial  extravagance,  they  will  suddenly  withdraw 
their  aid,  careful  to  shelter  themselves  from  the  evils 
which  their  own  selfish  liberality  has  occasioned.  De 
serted  in  their  utmost  need,  men  who  have  ventured  far 
beyond  their  depth  on  the  flood  of  bank  credit,  will  find 
themselves  suddenly  overwhelmed,  and  we  shall  again  see 
many  goodly  a  merchant  stranded  on  the  shore,  or  lying 
broken  wrecks,  on  the  shoals  and  quicksands  of  that 
treacherous  sea.  Such  will  be  the  inevitable  course  of 
things,  if  nothing  occurs  to  check  the  dangerous  generos 
ity  of  our  banks.  If  the  proposed  prohibition  of  notes  of 
less  than  five  dollars  is  postponed  eighteen  months,  it  will 
not  take  place  at  all.  The  commercial  business  of  the 
country  in  the  intermediate  time  will  change  the  face  of 
affairs.  Before  eighteen  months  shall  have  elapsed,  the 
gold  and  silver,  which  have  flowed  so  copiously  into  our 
country,  in  payment  of  that  balance  in  our  favour  which 
the  panic  of  last  winter,  by  checking  importation,  has  so 
happily  occasioned,  will  have  left  us  by  the  natural  reflux 
of  trade.  When  we  buy  more  of  foreign  nations  than 
our  cotton,  tobacco  and  flour  will  pay  for,  we  must  dis 
charge  the  balance  of  debt  with  specie.  The  only  way 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  139 

to  keep  the  necessary  quantity  of  the  precious  metals 
among  us,  is  to  abolish  the  small  note  currency  at  once. 
No  injustice  will  be  done  to  the  banks  by  carrying  this 
measure  into  immediate  effect.  They  have  had  long 
warning  that  the  sentiments  of  the  people  demanded  this 
reformation,  and  they  know  that  the  wishes  of  the  peo 
ple  are — or  rather  ought  to  be — the  supreme  law.  It  is 
to  be  feared,  however,  that  bank  influence  will  prove 
stronger  than  the  popular  will.  It  was  that  influence, 
and  the  pretext  of  the  panic,  which  prevented  a  law  being 
passed  last  winter  to  restrain  the  banks  from  issuing  the 
smaller  denominations  of  notes.  That  influence,  and 
some  other  groundless  pretext,  there  is  too  much  reason  to 
apprehend,  will  again  be  found  more  potent  with  our  le 
gislators  than  their  duty  to  their  constituents,  and  to  the 
great  and  permanent  interests  of  the  state.  It  was  our 
intention  to  include  a  summary  of  the  reasons  which  ren 
der  it  imperative  that  the  State  Government  should  ab 
stain  from  adding  any  more  banks  to  our  already  almost 
innumerable  host ;  but  interruptions  which  we  did  not 
anticipate  oblige  us  to  put  a  hasty  end  to  this  article. 
We  shall  take  the  liberty  of  resuming  the  subject  on  an 
early  day. 


140  POLITICAL    WRITINGS    OF 


MONOPOLIES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  December  30,  1834.] 
THIS  day  week  the  Legislature  will  convene  at  Albany. 
Seldom  has  it  happened  that  the  meeting  of  that  body 
has  been  looked  forward  to  with  so  much  general  interest. 
The  Message  of  Governor  Marcy  will  probably  be  com 
municated  to  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  on  the  first 
day  of  the  session,  and  we  expect  to  be  able  to  place  it 
before  our  readers  on  the  following  Thursday.     By  the 
sentiments  of  that  Message,  will  Governor  Marcy   be 
tried.     They  will  either  raise  him  in  our  estimation,  and 
in  the  estimation  of  all  who  are  animated  by  truly  demo 
cratic  principles,  to  a  most  enviable  height,  or  sink  him 
to  the  level  of  the  gross  herd  of  petty,  selfish,  short-sighted 
and  low-rninded  politicians.     The  rare  opportunity  is  pre 
sented  to  him  now,  by  one  single  act,  to  inscribe  his  name 
among  those  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  mankind.     If 
he  should  stand  forth  as  the  honest,  bold,  unequivocal 
asserter  of  the  great  principle  of  Equal  Rights,  and  strenu 
ously  recommend  to  the  Legislature  to  pursue  such  mea 
sures  only  as  are  consistent  with  that  principle  ;    if  he 
should  urge  upon  their  attention  the  evil  effects  of  the 
partial  and  unequal  system  of  legislation  which  we  have 
been  pursuing  for  years;  if  he  should  illustrate  the  in 
compatibility  of  all  acts  of  special  incorporation  with  the 
fundamental  principle  of  our  Government,  and  show  their 
tendency  to  build  up  a  privileged  order,  and  to  concen 
trate  all  wealth  and  power  in  the  hands  of  the  few  ;   if 
he  should  sternly  oppose  all  further  extension  of  exclusive 
or  partial  privileges,  and  earnestly  recommend,  instead, 
the  adoption  of  a  general  law  of  joint  stock  partnerships, 
by  which  whatever  of  truly  valuable  is  now  effected  by 
private  incorporations  might  be  done  by  voluntary  associ« 
ations  of  men,  possessing  no  privileges  above  their  fellow- 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  141 

citizens,  and  liable  to  the  same  free  competition  which 
the  merchant,  the  mechanic,  the  labourer,  and  the  farmer 
are,  in  their  vocations — if  he  should  take  such  a  stand, 
his  name  would  go  down  to  posterity  inseparably  associ 
ated  with  that  of  the  patriotic  and  democratic  man,  who, 
at  the  head  of  the  National  Government,  has  done  so 
much  to  restore  to  the  People  their  violated  rights,  and 
check  the  course  of  unequal,  aristocratic  legislation.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  Governor  Marcy  should  listen  to  the 
suggestions  of  selfish  interest  or  short-sighted  policy  ;  if, 
through  timidity  of  character  or  subserviency  to  the 
views  of  unprincipled  demagouges,  who  assume  to  be  the 
"  leaders  "  of  the  democracy,  and  claim  a  right  to  legisla 
tive  rewards,  he  should  recommend  "  a  middle  course," 
or  should  cloak  his  sentiments  in  ambiguities,  or  fetter 
them  with  qualifications  that  take  from  them  all  force  and 
meaning  ;  if  he  should  either  approve  a  continuance  of 
the  fatal  course  of  legislation  which  has  done  so  much  to 
oppress  the  people,  or  express  disapproval  of  it  in  such 
mincing,  shuffling,  evasive  terms  as  to  pass  for  nothing ; 
if  he  should  object  to  the  incorporation  of  more  banks, 
except  in  places  where  more  banks  are  asked  for,  and 
should  suggest  the  propriety  of  prohibiting  the  small  note 
currency,  at  some  future  and  indejinite  period:  if  Gov 
ernor  Marcy,  instead  of  realizing  the  expectations 
of  the  honest  democracy  of  the  state,  should  pursue 
such  a  trimming,  paltry,  time-serving  course,  most  com 
pletely  will  he  forfeit  the  high  prize  of  fame  which  is 
now  within  his  reach,  most  blindly  will  he  turn  aside  from 
the  proud  destiny  which  it  is  in  his  power  to  achieve. 
We  await  his  message  with  anxiety,  but  not  without 
strong  hopes. 


142  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 


JOINT-STOCK  PARTNERSHIP  LAW. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  December  30, 1834.] 
THE  charters  of  several  incorporated  companies  in  this 
city  are  about  to  expire,  and  we  have  several  times  been 
asked  if  this  paper,  in  pursuance  of  the  doctrines  we  pro 
fess,  would  feel  called  upon  to  oppose  the  renewal  of 
those  charters.  To  this  our  answer  is  most  unequivo 
cally  in  the  affirmative.  We  shall  oppose,  with  all  our 
might  and  zeal,  the  granting  or  renewing  of  any  special 
charter  of  incorporation  whatever,  no  matter  who  may  be 
the  applicants,  or  what  the  objects  of  the  association. 

But  at  the  same  time,  we  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  un 
derstood,  that  we  do  not  desire  to  break  up  those  incorpo 
rated  associations  the  charters  of  which  are  about  to  ex 
pire.  How  so  ?  You  would  refuse  to  re-charter  them, 
and  thus  they  would  inevitably  be  broken  up.  Not  at  all ; 
as  we  shall  explain. 

It  is  not  against  the  objects  effected  by  incorporated 
companies  that  we  contend ;  but  simply  against  the  false 
principle,  politically  and  politico-economically,  of  special 
grants  and  privileges.  Instead  of  renewing  the  charters 
of  Insurance  Companies,  or  any  other  companies,  about 
to  expire,  or  granting  charters  to  new  applicants,  we 
would  recommend  the  passing  of  one  general  law  of  joint 
stock  partnerships,  allowing  any  number  of  persons  to 
associate  for  any  object,  (with  one  single  temporary  ex 
ception,  which  we  shall  state  in  the  proper  place)  per 
mitting  them  to  sue  and  be  sued  under  their  partnership 
name,  to  be  secure  from  liability  beyond  the  amount  of 
capital  invested,  to  conduct  their  business  according  to 
their  own  good  pleasure,  and,  in  short,  to  possess  all  the 
powers  defined  by  the  revised  statutes  as  belonging  to 
corporations.  There  is  nothing  not  perfectly  equitable 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  143 

in  the  principle  which  exempts  men  from  liability  to  any 
greater  amount  than  the  capital  actually  invested  in  any 
business,  provided  proper  notoriety  be  given  of  the  ex- 
tent  and  circumstances  of  that  investment.  If  such  a 
law  were  passed,  the  stockholders  in  an  insurance  com- 
pany,  or  the  stockholders  in  any  other  chartered  com 
pany,  when  their  corporate  privileges  were  about  to  ex 
pire,  would  have  merely  to  give  the  proper  public  notifi 
cation  of  their  intention  to  continue  their  business  in 
the  mode  specified  in  the  general  joint-stock  partnership 
law,  and  they  might  go  on  precisely  the  same  as  if  their 
special  privileges  had  been  renewed.  The  only  differ- 
ence  would  be  that  those  privileges  would  no  longer  be 
special,  but  would  belong  to  the  whole  community,  any 
number  of  which  might  associate  together,  form  a  new 
company  for  the  same  objects,  give  due  notification  to 
the  public,  and  enter  into  free  competition  with  pre-exist 
ing  companies  or  partnerships  ;  precisely  as  one  man,  or 
set  of  associated  men,  may  now  enter  into  mercantile 
business  by  the  side  of  other  merchants,  import  the  same 
kinds  of  goods,  dispose  of  them  on  the  same  terms,  and 
compete  with  them  in  all  the  branches  of  their  business. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  said  about  our  ultraism 
and  Utopianism  ;  and  this  is  the  extent  of  it.  By  a 
general  law  of  joint-stock  partnerships  all  the  good  effects 
of  private  incorporations  would  be  secured,  and  all  the 
evil  ones  avoided.  The  humblest  citizens  might  associ 
ate  together,  and  wield,  through  the  agency  of  skilful 
and  intelligent  directors,  chosen  by  themselves,  a  vast 
aggregate  capital,  composed  of  the  little  separate  sums 
which  they  could  afford  to  invest  in  such  an  enterprise, 
in  competition  with  the  capitals  of  the  purse-proud  men 
who  now  almost  monopolize  certain  branches  of  business. 

The  exception  to  which  we  have  alluded  above,  is  the 
business  of  banking.  Our  views  on  this  subject  were 


144  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OP 

fully  stated  yesterday.  We  would  not  have  banking 
thrown  open  to  the  whole  community,  until  the  legisla 
ture  had  first  taken  measures  to  withdraw  our  paper 
money  from  circulation.  As  soon  as  society  should  be 
entirely  freed,  by  these  measures,  from  the  habit  of  tak 
ing  bank-notes  as  money,  we  would  urge  the  repeal  of 
the  restraining  law,  and  place  banking  on  as  broad  a 
basis  as  any  other  business  whatever. 


OBJECTS  OF  THE  EVENING  POST. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  January  3, 1835.] 
Those  who  only  read  the  declamations  of  the  opponents 
of  the  Equal  Rights  of  the  people,  may  be  induced  to  be. 
lieve  that  this  paper  advocates  principles  at  war  with  the 
very  existence   of  social   rights  and  social  order.     But 
what  have  we  asked  in  the  name  of  the  people,  that  such 
an  interested  clamour  should  be  raised  against  them  and 
us?     What  have  we  done  or  said,  that  we  should  be  de 
nounced  as  incendiaries,  striking  at  the  very  roots  of  soci 
ety  and  tearing  down  the  edifice  of  property  ?     It  may 
be  useful  to  recapitulate  what  we  have  already  done,  in 
order  that  those  who  please  may  judge  whether  or  not  we 
deserve  these  reproaches,  from  any  but  the  enemies  of  the 
equal  rights  of  person  and  property. 

In  the  first  place,  in  designating  the  true  functions  of 
a  good  government,  we  placed  the  protection  of  property 
among  its  first  and  principal  duties.  We  referred  to  it 
as  one  of  the  great  objects  for  the  attainment  of  which  all 
governments  were  originally  instituted.  Does  this  savour 
of  hostility  to  the  rights  of  property  ? 

In  the  second  place,  we  maintained  that  all  grants  of 
monopolies,  or  exclusive  or  partial  privileges  to  any  man, 
or  body  of  men,  impaired  the  equal  rights  of  the  people, 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  541 

and  was  in  direct  violation  of  the  first  principle  of  a  free 
government.  Does  it  savour  of  hostility  to  the  rights  of 
property  to  maintain  that  all  property  has  equal  rights, 
and  that  exclusive  privileges  granted  to  one  class  of  men, 
or  one  species  of  property,  impair  the  equal  rights  of  all 
the  others  1 

As  a  deduction  from  these  principles,  we  draw  the  con- 
elusion  that  charters  conferring  partial  or  exclusive  mo- 
nopolies  on  small  fractions  of  society,  are  infringements 
on  the  general  rights  of  society,  and  therefore  that  the 
system  ought  to  be  abandoned  as  soon  as  possible,  as  ut 
terly  at  war  with  the  rights  of  the  people  at  large.  It  is 
here  that  the  shoe  pinches,  and  here  the  clamour  against 
us  will  be  found  to  originate.  Thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  influential  individuals,  at  the  bar,  on  the 
bench,  in  our  legislative  bodies,  and  everywhere,  are  deep 
ly  interested  in  the  continuance  of  these  abuses.  Law 
makers,  law-expounders  and  law  executors,  have  invested 
either  their  money  or  their  credit  in  corporations  of  every 
kind,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  should 
cry  out  against  the  abandonment  of  a  system  from 
whence  they  derive  such  exorbitant  gains. 

We  are  accused  of  violating  vested  rights  when  we 
ask,  in  the  name  of  the  people,  that  no  more  be  created, 
and  that  all  those  possessing  the  means  and  the  inclina 
tion,  may  be  admitted,  under  general  regulations,  to  a 
participation  in  the  privileges  which  hitherto  have  been 
only  enjoyed  through  the  caprice,  the  favour,  the  policy, 
or  the  corruption,  of  legislative  bodies.  We  never  even 
hinted  at  touching  those  vested  rights,  until  the  period  to 
which  they  had  been  extended  by  law  had  expired,  and 
till  it  could  be  done  without  a  violation  of  legislative 
faith.  We  defy  any  man  to  point  out  in  any  of  our  argu 
ments  on  this  subject  a  single  idea  or  sentence  that  will 
sustain  the  charge  of  hostility  to  actually  vested  rights. 
VOL.  I.— 13 


146  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

Our  opposition  was  prospective,  not  retroactive  ;  it  was 
not  to  present,  but  to  future  vested  rights. 

In  attacking  a  course  of  policy  in  the  future,  do  we 
make  war  on  the  past  ?  In  pointing  out  what  we  believe 
errors  in  former  legislation,  and  recommending  their 
abandonment  in  future,  do  we  violate  any  right  of  proper 
ty,  or  recommend  any  breach  of  puplic  faith  ?  Or,  in 
advocating  the  equal  rights  of  all,  do  we  impair  the  con- 
stitutional  rights  of  any?  It  might  be  well  for  the  cla- 
mourous  few  who  assail  our  principles  and  our  motives 
with  opprobious  epithets,  which,  though  they  do  not  un 
derstand  their  purport  themselves,  they  mean  should  con. 
vey  the  most  dishonourable  imputations — it  might  be 
well  for  them  to  answer  these  questions  before  they  resort 
to  railing. 

One  of  the  greatest  supports  of  an  erroneous  system  of 
legislation,  is  the  very  evil  it  produces.  When  it  is  pro- 
posed  to  remedy  the  mischief  by  adopting  a  new  system, 
every  abuse  which  has  been  the  result  of  the  old  one  be 
comes  an  obstacle  to  reformations.  Every  political 
change,  however  salutary,  must  be  injurious  to  the  inte 
rests  of  some,  and  it  will  be  found  that  those  who  profit 
by  abuses  are  always  more  clamourous  for  their  continu 
ance  than  those  who  are  only  opposing  them  from  mo 
tives  of  justice  or  patriotism,  are  for  their  abandonment. 
Such  is  precisely  the  state  of  the  question  of  monopoly  at 
this  moment. 

Under  the  abuses  of  the  right  to  grant  exclusive  privi 
leges  to  the  few,  which  is  a  constructive,  if  not  a  usurped 
power,  a  vast  and  concentrated  interest  and  influence  has 
grown  up  among  us,  which  will  undoubtedly  be  seriously 
affected  in  its  monopoly  of  gain  from  that  source,  by  the 
discontinuance  of  their  chartered  privileges,  when  they 
shall  expire  by  their  own  limitation.  The  admission  of 
all  others  having  the  means  and  the  inclination  to  associ- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  147 

ate  for  similar  purposes,  by  destroying  the  monopoly  at 
one  blow,  will  in  all  probability  diminish  the  prospect  of 
future  gains  ;  and  these  will  be  still  further  curtailed,  by 
at  first  restricting  banks  in  their  issues  of  small  notes  and 
in  the  amount  of  notes  they  are  permitted  to  put  into  cir 
culation,  and  finally  by  repealing  the  restraining  law,  and 
throwing  banking  open  to  the   free  competition  of  the 
whole  community.     These  may  prove  serious  evils  to  the 
parties  concerned  ;  but  it  is  a  poor  argument  to  say  that  a 
bad  system  should  be  persevered  in,  least  a  small  minority 
of  the  community  should  suffer  some  future  inconveni 
ence.     The  magnitude  of  the  evlis  produced  by  an  erro 
neous  system   of  legislation,  far  from  being  a  circum 
stance  in  favour  of  its  continuance  or  increase,  is  the 
strongest  argument  in  the  world  for  its  being  abandoned 
as  soon  as  possible.     Every  reformation  may  in  this  way 
be  arrested,  under  the  pretence  that  the  evils  it  will  cause 
are  greater  than  those  it  will  cure.     On  the  same  princi 
ple  the  drawing  of  a   tooth   might  be  opposed,  on  the 
ground  that  the  pain  is  worse  than  that  of  the  tooth-ache, 
keeping  out  of  sight  the  fact  that  the  one  is  a  lasting  and 
increasing,  the  other  a  momentary  evil. 

It  is  the  nature  of  political  abuses,  to  be  always  on  the 
increase,  unless  arrested  by  the  virtue,  intelligence  and 
firmness  of  the  people.  If  not  corrected  in  time,  they 
grow  up  into  a  gigantic  vigour  and  notoriety  which  at 
length  enables  them  to  wrestle  successfully  with  the  peo 
ple,  and  overthrow  them  and  their  rights.  The  posses 
sors  of  monopolies  and  exclusive  privileges,  which  form 
the  essence  of  every  bad  government,  pervert  a  long  per 
severance  in  the  wrong,  into  a  political  right ;  abuses 
grow  venerable  by  time  ;  usurpation  matures  into  pro 
scription  ;  distinctions  become  hereditary  ;  and  what  can 
not  be  defended  by  reason,  is  maintained  on  the  ground 


I 

148  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

that  a  long  continuance  of  wrongs,  and  a  long  possession 
of  rights,  are  equally  sacred. 

REFUSAL  OF  THE  U.  S.  BANK  TO  PRODUCE 
ITS  BOOKS.* 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  May,  13,  1834.] 
The  resolution  adopted  by  the  popular  branch  of  Con- 
gress  to  appoint  a  Committee  of  Investigation  to  inquire 
into  the  affairs  and  conduct  of  the  United  States  Bank 
was  passed  by  a  vote  of  174  to  41.  There  has  scarcely 
a  question  of  any  kind  arisen  during  the  present  session 
which  has  received  the  approbation  of  so  large  and  sig 
nal  a  majority  of  the  House.  Rumors  have  been  in  cir 
culation  for  some  days  past,  from  the  purport  of  which 
it  was  surmised  that  the  managers  of  the  United  States 
Bank  were  determined  to  defeat  all  attempts  to  investi 
gate  the  concerns  of  that  corrupt  institution,  and  refuse 
to  remove  the  veil  which  conceals  their  iniquitous  trans 
actions.  These  rumors,  however,  could  not  gain  entire 
credit  from  those  who  bore  in  mind  how  strong  was  the 
vote  of  the  House  in  favour  of  appointing  the  Investigat 
ing  Committee,  how  explicit  were  the  instructions  given 
them,  and  how  ample  the  powers  with  which  they  were 
clothed. 

It  seems,  -however,  that  these  reports  were  but  too  well 
founded.  The  Bank  has  added  another  act  of  audacious 
wickedness  to  those  which  had  already  made  it  the  ob 
ject  of  unappeasable  detestation  and  abhorrence  to  the 
great  body  of  the  People  of  the  United  States.  It  has 
given  another  evidence  of  its  determination  to  rule  the 
country  ;  and  as  it  lately  undertook  to  withhold  the  pub 
lic  funds  from  the  executive  department  charged  with 
their  custody,  and  to  dictate  the  law  to  the  President  of 

*  Several  pieces  are  inserted  here  out  of  the  order  of  date. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  149 

the  United  States  ;  so  now  it  refuses  obedience  to  a  reso 
lution  of  Congress,  framed  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  its  charter,  and  shutting  its  books  against  the 
Committee  of  Investigation,  sends  them  back  to  Wash 
ington  no  wiser  than  when  they  left. 

We  learn  this  fact  from  various  sources.  The  Penn- 
sylvanian  says,  "  After  a  tedious  and  protracted  attempt 
to  induce  the  Bank  to  submit  amicably  to  an  investiga 
tion  legally  ordered  and  emanating  from  the  direct  re 
presentatives  of  the  people,  it  was  found  necessary  at 
last  to  serve  a  subp&na  duces  tecum  upon  the  President, 
Directors,  &c.  of  the  United  States  Bank,  to  bring  them 
and  the  requisite  books  and  papers  of  the  institution  be 
fore  the  committee,  then  sitting  at  the  North  American 
Hotel.  The  officers  so  summoned  made  their  appear 
ance  before  the  committee,  and  FORMALLY  REFUSED 

EITHER  TO  TESTIFY,  OR  TO  PRODUCE  THE  BOOKS  AND  PA 
PERS,  IN  EFFECT  DENYING  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  COM 
MITTEE  AND  DISCLAIMING  ALL  RESPONSIBILITY  TO  THE  RE- 

PUBLIC  AND  ITS  SERVANTS  !  The  refusal  being  peremp 
tory,  the  only  course  left  to  the  committee  was  an  imme 
diate  adjournment." 

The  proceedings  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  para 
graph  took  place  on  Saturday  last.  The  committee  of 
Investigation  adjourned,  we  understand,  to  meet  again  in 
Washington,  on  Thursday  next,  when,  it  is  presumed,  a 
full  official  report  of  their  whole  proceedings  and  those  of 
the  Bank  will  be  submitted  to  Congress  and  laid  before 
the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Nothing  has  occurred  in  the  whole  history  of  this  pow 
erful  and  dangerous  monopoly  which  equals  in  arrogance 
this  high-handed  and  startling  proceeding.  Its  bribery 
and  corruption,  extensively  as  it  has  been  practised,  was 
meant  to  operate  in  secret.  Its  resistance  to  the  Execu- 
tive  authority,  in  the  matter  of  the  pension  fund,  was 
offered  under  the  pretence  of  obedience  to  the  law.  But 
13* 


150  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

in  its  refusal  to  submit  to  the  investigations  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  Congress,  there  is  no  plea  to  justify  or  extenu 
ate  its  audacity ;  and  we  can  look  upon  this  instance  of 
monstrous  and  unheard  of  arrogance  in  no  other  light 
than  as  the  result  of  a  conviction  entertained  by  the  Bank 
that  the  power  of  its  gold  has  at  length  prevailed,  and  that 
what  with  direct  bribery,  what  with  indirect  corruption, 
and  what  with  pecuniary  coercion,  it  has  obtained  the 
mastery  over  the  American  people.  We  shall  be  greatly 
mistaken,  however,  if  this  last  exhibition  of  autocratic  ar 
rogance  does  not  arouse  the  indignation  of  the  people  to 
the  highest  pitch.  We  have  miscalculated  the  moral 
sense  of  our  fellow-countrymen  if  they  can  tamely  brook 
the  audacious  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  money  corpora 
tion,  thus  openly  and  insolently  setting  all  law  and  all 
authority  at  defiance. 

The  clause  in  the  charter  of  the  Bank,  by  which  Con 
gress  reserved  to  itself  the  power  to  examine  into  the  af 
fairs  and  management  of  that  institution  is  clear  and  ex 
plicit.  The  twenty-third  section  of  the  act  of  1816 
chartering  the  United  States  Bank,  is  in  the  following 
words :  "  That  it  shall,  at  all  times,  be  lawful  for  a  com 
mittee  of  either  House  of  Congress,  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  to  inspect  the  books,  and  examine  into  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  corporation  hereby  created,  and  to  report 
whether  the  provisions  of  this  charter  have  been,  by  the 
same,  violated  or  not-" 

With  regard  to  the  particulars  of  the  conduct  of  the 
President  and  Directors  of  the  United  States  Bank  to 
wards  the  Investigating  Committee  we  have  heard  sev 
eral  verbal  reports,  of  which  the  following  paragraph, 
given  in  a  postscript  of  the  Albany  Argus,  contains  the 
substance.  The  extreme  arrogance  of  the  bank,  and  the 
unlawfulness  of  the  pretence  it  set  up,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  course  adopted  by  the  Committee,  who  would 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  151 

not  have  relinquished  the  investigation  and  returned  to 
Washington,  had  the  Bank  attempted  to  prevent  their  in- 
vestigation  by  no  other  means  than  those  which  its  char- 
ter  authorizes  it  to  use. 

«  The  Committee  soon  after  their  appointment,"  says 
the  Albany  Argus,  "  assembled  in  Philadelphia,  and  de 
manded  the  usual  convenience  of  a  room  in  the  Bank  for 
the  examination  of  the  books  and  accounts  of  the  bank. 
This  was  refused,  except  upon  the  condition  that  a  com 
mittee  of  seven  ofjhe  directors  should  be  present  at  all  ex 
aminations  of  the  books,  and  it  was  also  refused  to  allow 
copies  or  extracts  to  be  taken.     The  committee  then  ad 
journed  to  a   room  in  one  of  the  hotels,  and  demanded 
that  the  books  be  sent  thither.     This  was  also  refused ; 
but  a  proposition  made  on  the  part  of  the  Bank  to  allow 
an  examination  of  the  books  in  the  bank  and  in  the  pre 
sence  of  the  officers  of  the  institution.     The  committee, 
anxious  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  their  appointment,  accepted 
the  proposition,  and  proceeded  to  the  Bank ;  when  Mr. 
Biddle  refused  to  allow  an  examination  of  the  books,  un 
less  the  object  of  such  examination  of  the  particular  books 
were  stated  in  writing.     A  compliance  with  such  extra 
ordinary  terms,  was  of  course  inadmissible  ;  and  the  com 
mittee  returned  to  their  room,  and  directed  subpoenas  to 
issue  for  the  appearance  before  them  of  the  president  and 
directors,  with  the   books  of  the  bank.     The  subpoenas 
were  served  by  the  marshal,  and  the  president  and  direc 
tors  appeared,  but  refused  the  books,  and  refused  to  be 
sworn  or  to  give  evidence.     The  committee  of  course, 
had  no  alternative  but  to  return  to  the  seat  of  government 
which  they  were  to  do,  we  learn,  on  Monday." 

Nothing  but  the  consciousness  of  damning  guilt — no 
thing  but  the  fear  that  practises  of  the  most  enormous 
and  flagitious  corruption  would  be  detected— nothing  but 
the  apprehension  that  its  vast  and  wicked  schemes  were 


152  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

about  to  be  laid  before  the  American  People,  could  have 
prevailed  upon  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  to  act  as 
it  has  done  towards  the  Committee  of  Investigation.  If 
its  conduct  had  been  pure — if  its  business  had  been  hon- 
estly  conducted — if  its  condition  was  solvent — if  it  had 
acted  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  its  charter 
— what  need  was  there  to  shun  investigation  ?  Guilt 
shrinks  in  holes  and  corners,  but  an  upright  man  stands 
boldly  forth  in  the  light  of  day.  The  course  which  the 
Bank  has  adopted  must  alienate  those  (if  any  there  were) 
who  have  hitherto  believed  in  its  integrity.  This  effect, 
indeed,  is  said  already  to  have  taken  place. 


REFUSAL  OF  THE  U.  S.  BANK  TO  PRODUCE 
ITS  BOOKS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  May  31,  1834.] 
"  Button  button,  who's  got  the  button  ?" 

OUR  readers  will  doubtless  recollect  an  old  play  of  this 
name  among  the  amusements  of  their  youthful  days,  but 
probably  never  anticipated  it  would  be  played  by  such 
dignified  personages  as  the  President  and  Directors  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  It  will  be  seen  by  a  pe 
rusal  of  the  documents  accompanying  the  Report  of  the 
Committee  of  Investigation,  that  they  were  as  much 
puzzled  to  find  out  who  had  the  custody  of  the  Bank 
books,  as  we  have  often  been  to  find  who  had  the  button. 
The  books  of  the  ancient  sibyls  were  not  more  difficult 
of  access  than  those  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
When  application  was  made  by  the  Committee  to  the 
President,  it  was  found  they  were  not  in  his  custody. 
When  asked  what  clerks  had  charge  of  particular  books, 
it  was  replied  none  ;  and  when  the  Directors  had  a  simi 
lar  question  put  to  them,  they  could  not  be  brought  to 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  153 

confess  that  these  books  were  in  their  possession,  or  under 
their  control.  In  reading  this  correspondence,  we  are 
strongly  reminded  of  the  fable  of  the  two  corporate  gen- 
tlemen,  who  went  into  a  butcher's  shop  and  stole  a  piece 
of  beef,  and  can  scarcely  refrain  from  adopting  the  same 
opinion  with  the  honest  butcher. 

But  it  not  only  appears  that  no  person  has  charge  of  the 
books  of  the  Bank,  but  there  are  moreover  strong  indi 
cations  in  this  correspondence  that  nobody  represents  the 
Bank  itself,  or  is  responsible  for  its  proceedings.  The 
committee  address  a  letter  to  Mr.  Biddle,  and  are  answered 
by  Mr.  Sergeant.  They  write  to  Mr.  Sergeant,  and 
presto  !  Mr.  Biddle  responds,  or  in  default  of  Mr.  Biddle, 
Monsieur  Jaudon  volunteers.  In  this  way  the  committee 
are  bandied  about  from  one  to  another,  until  they  become 
as  much  puzzled  to  find  out  the  rogue,  as  the  honest 
butcher  in  the  fable.  All  that  they,  or  we,  can  gather 
from  this  inextricable  jumble  is,  that  nobody  has  the  cus 
tody  of  the  books,  and  that  nobody  represents  the  Bank 
or  is  responsible  for  its  proceedings.  Whether  the  Presi 
dent,  the  Cashier,  the  Directors,  or  the  Clerks,  constitute 
this  extraordinary  body  corporate,  is  a  profound  mystery. 
The  President,  we  all  know,  wields  the  whole  power  of 
the  Bank,  but  the  responsibility  for  its  exercise  is,  for  all 
we  know,  in  the  man  of  the  moon.  They  have  got  the 
button  among  them,  that  is  certain,  but  the  fortunate 
possessor  has  not  yet  been  detected. 

The  Bank  reminds  us,  in  truth,  of  that  race  of  mis 
chievous  amphibious  animals,  called  water  rats,  which 
are  neither  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  nor  the 
laws  of  the  sea.  When  detected  in  rifling  the  house 
they  take  shelter  in  the  docks ;  and  when  routed  thence 
ensconce  themselves  in  the  cellar.  The  very  best  mousers 
are  at  fault,  and  the  rats  escape  with  impunity.  Whether 
they  have  any  learned  counsel  to  aid  or  abet  them,  we 


154  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

cannot  say,  but  rather  apprehend  that  such  is  the  case, 
since  all  experience  verifies  the  fact,  that  no  rogue  will 
ever  lack  a  pettifogger,  who  has  discretion  enough  to  steal 
a  cheese  for  a  fee. 

The  truth  is,  that  such  corporate  bodies  as  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  being  founded  on  no  general  princi 
ple  of  law,  are  in  fact  amenable   to  none,  and   always 
escape  the  responsibility  of  their  illegal  acts  by  the  aid 
of  shuffling  chicanery,  stimulated  by  the  ample  means 
of  remuneration  in  their  possession.     Legal  opinions  may 
be  bought  like  any  other  commodity,  and  so  may  the  men 
who  sell  them,  if  the  price  is  proportioned  to  the  dignity 
and  value  of  the   purchase.     Having  neither  souls  nor 
bodies,  corporations  cannot  be  brought  to  a  sense  of  shame 
by  exposure,  nor  to  a  sense  of  justice  by  the   fear  of 
punishment.     They  can  neither  feel  disgrace  nor  smart 
under  corporeal  infliction.     They  belong  to  no  genus  of 
animals  ;  are  subject  to  none  of  the  laws  of  nature  and 
society;  and  when  justice  seeks  to  lay  hold  of  them,  it 
finds  that  it  has  grasped  at  a  shadow.     Even  High  Con. 
stable  Hays,  the  terror  of  all  evil  doers,  would  be  at  fault 
in  hunting  such  game.       They  are  private  citizens,  one 
moment  asserting  their  natural  and  constitutional  rights  ; 
the  next  a  corporate  body,  sheltering  itself  in  the  obscu 
rity  of  its  equivocal  being,  and  claiming  the  privilege  of 
exemption  from  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  private 
individuals.     Thus  dodging  about  from  side  to  side,  and 
availing  itself  of  pettifogging  subtilties,  a  full  purse,  and 
a  brazen  face,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  has  hitherto 
baffled  the  scrutiny  of  the  public  inquest,  defied  the  con 
stituted  authorities  of  the  nation,  and  triumphed  in  the 
impunity  of  detected  yet  unpunished  guilt. 

But  there  is  one  great  and  omnipotent  tribunal  it  can 
not  evade — the  tribunal  of  the  sovereign  people  of  the 
United  States.  To  that  tribunal  it  must  come  at  last, 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  155 

and  by  that  tribunal  it  will  be  condemned  to  annihila 
tion. 

You  cannot  FEE  THEM — they  are  too  virtuous  to  be  cor 
rupted  by  bribes,  and  if  they  were  not  so,  too  numerous 
to  be  bribed.  A  few  of  their  leaders  may  be  seduced  by 
the  temptations  of  ambition  and  avarice  combined  ;  but 
a  nation  of  freemen,  never  yet  bowed  their  necks  to  the 
yoke,  even  though  it  were  of  solid  gold.  The  doom  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  is  sealed ;  the  condemna 
tion  is  in  the  mouths  and  hearts  of  the  American  people  ; 
and  the  evils  inflicted  upon  them  by  that  powerful,  un 
principled  corporation,  will  be  amply  repaid  by  the  deep 
detestation  they  will  ever  afterwards  feel  for  such  a  dan 
gerous  and  unconstitutional  monopoly. 


THE  BANK  PARTY. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  June  12,  1834.] 
WHOEVER  is  an  observer  of  the  signs  of  the  times 
must  have  noticed  the  earnest  and  painful  efforts  of  the 
Bank  party  to  rid  themselves  of  that  appellation.  They 
have  recently  been  endeavouring  with  great  zeal  to  per 
suade  the  world  that  they  are  not  partizans  of  the  United 
'States  Bank;  that  the  re-charter  of  that  institution  is  a 
matter  of  secondary  consequence  with  them ;  and  the 
chief  object  of  their  warfare  with  the  democracy  of  the 
country  is  to  rescue  the  Constitution  from  the  hands  of  a 
despot  and  usurper ;  to  correct  the  evils  of  Executive 
misrule  ;  and  to  retrieve  the  land  from  the  ruin  which  is 
laying  it  waste  and  desolate.  The  question  to  be  deci 
ded,  they  say,  is  not  Bank  or  no  Bank,  but  Laws  or  no 
Laws.  If  they  are  sincere  in  these  professions,  then 
must  the  strife  of  parties  cease  at  once  ;  for  surely  the 
democracy  will  never  be  found  warring  against  those  who 


156  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

avow  the  same  principles,  and  aim  at  the  same  objects 
with  themselves.  To  prevent  usurpation,  repress  tyranny, 
and  maintain  a  system  of  equal  and  just  laws,  have 
always  been  the  great  aims  of  the  democratic  party. 
These  form  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances, 
the  main  precepts  of  their  doctrine,  and  furnish  the  battle- 
cry  of  their  political  contests.  If  those  with  whom  we 
have  been  hitherto  contending  are  animated  by  the  same 
sentiments,  and  directed  by  the  same  motives,  let  us  at 
once  drop  our  weapons,  clasp  each  others'  hands  in  fellow, 
ship,  and  proceed  hereafter  in  a  united  band,  like  bro 
thers,  not  disputing  each  inch  of  ground,  like  foes.  But 
before  we  cast  aside  our  arms  and  offer  tokens  of  amity, 
it  may  be  well  to  scrutinize  these  pretensions,  and  compare 
them  with  the  conduct  of  those  by  whom  they  are  avowed. 
The  despotism  and  usurpation  of  the  chief  magistrate, 
as  far  as  any  specific  accusation  can  be  inferred  from  the 
vague  charges  uttered  against  him.  consists  in  the  remo 
val  of  the  Government  deposites  from  the  United  States 
Bank.  The  Senate,  it  is  true,  in  passing  their  verdict 
against  him,  were  careful  to  exclude  from  it  all  specifi 
cation  of  particular  offences.  While  they  pronounced 
him  guilty  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  they  left  it 
to  conjecture  to  discover  the  transgression,  with  no  nar 
rower  limit  to  circumscribe  its  search  than  the  vague 
phrase  of  "  late  executive  proceedings  in  relation  to  the 
public  revenue."  But  though  that  extraordinary  sen 
tence  is  thus  indefinite  in  its  description  of  the  particu 
lar  act  it  condemns,  there  are  circumstances  which  point 
to  the  removal  of  the  deposites  as  the  measure  which  has 
given  occasion  to  such  a  world  of  denunciations  against 
infringements  of  the  constitution,  and  such  pious  horror 
of  executive  despotism  and  usurpation.  This  is  the  par 
ticular  act  of  the  administration  against  which  the  slings 
and  arrows  of  an  outrageous  party  are  incessantly  dis- 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  157 

charged.  The  removal  of  the  deposites  is  the  theme  of 
their  newspaper  tirades ;  it  is  the  burden  of  all  their 
petitions  to  Congress ;  it  is  the  topic  on  which  Bank 
orators  in  that  body  have  exhausted  their  eloquence,  and 
well  nigh  exhausted  the  English  language  of  its  terms  of 
invective  and  reproach.  We  take  it  then,  that  the  re 
moval  of  the  deposites  is  the  measure  which  is  relied 
upon  to  prove  the  Executive  a  tyrant  and  usurper. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  the  purpose  of  this  article  that 
we  should  establish  either  the  policy  or  the  constitution 
ality  of  that  measure.  Let  us  first  examine  if  our  oppo 
nents  are  sincere  in  alleging  that  their  warfare  is  in  de 
fence  of  a  violated  Constitution,  not  in  defence  of  the 
United  States  Bank.  If  they  are  really  not  a  Bank 
party,  but  a  Constitutional  party  ;  if  their  object  is  not 
to  perpetuate  a  huge  moneyed  institution,  too  powerful 
for  a  free  people  to  risk,  and  too  corrupt  for  a  virtuous 
people  to  endure  ;  but  to  re-establish  the  Constitution  in 
its  original  strength  and  simplicity,  before  the  spirit  of 
expediency  had  strained  any  of  its  provisions  to  larger 
issues  than  its  frarners  designed,  and  before  the  fatal 
precedent  had  been  pleaded  to  justify  subsequent  perver 
sions — if  our  opponents  are  governed  by  such  motives,  no 
wonder  that  they  reject  with  scorn  the  appellation  of 
Bank  party. 

But  if  we  look  back  to  the  history  of  their  hostility  to 
the  Executive,  shall  we  find  that  it  commenced  with  the 
removal  of  the  deposites  1  Shall  we  find  that  before  that 
act  they  yielded  him  their  support,  joined  with  him  in 
censuring  the  corruptions  of  the  Bank,  and  manifested  no 
desire  for  the  renewal  of  its  charter  ?  Shall  we  not  on 
the  contrary,  find  that  a  large  portion  of  those  who  now 
fight  against  the  administration  under  a  common  banner, 
and  shout  a  common  war-cry,  were  as  decidedly  opposed 
to  Andrew  Jackson  before  he  was  elected  chief  magis- 
VOL.  I.— 14 


158  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

trate  as  they  are  at  this  moment  ?  Shall  we  not  find  that 
they  misrepresented  his  actions,  maligned  his  motives, 
and  even  slandered  his  dead  wife,  while  she  lay  yet  hardly 
Cold  in  her  grave  ?  And  on  his  being  chosen  by  the  Peo 
ple  to  preside  over  them,  did  the  enmity  of  these  champi 
ons  of  the  Constitution  cease  ?  Did  they  not  embarrass 
his  administration  by  every  art  that  ingenuity  could  de 
vise,  and  shower  on  his  head  every  reproach  that  slander 
could  invent  ?  Did  they  not  deride  his  public  measures, 
and  traduce  his  private  conduct — at  one  moment  denounc 
ing  him  as  a  military  chieftain  ruling  with  the  sword, 
and  the  next  as  a  superannuated  imbecile,  blindly  led  by 
flatterers  and  favourites  ?  Did  they  not  receive  his  very 
first  suggestion  to  Congress  relative  to  the  United  States 
Bank  with  jeers  and  hisses  ?  Did  they  not  defend  the 
conduct  of  that  institution  in  all  its  successive  steps  of 
wickedness  and  corruption  ? — its  interference  in  elections, 
its  infidelity  to  its  trust  in  the  business  of  the  three  per 
cent,  stock — its  corruption  of  the  press — its  enormous 
over-issues,  inducing  ruinous  speculation — its  rapid  cur 
tailments,  causing  wide-spread  ruin  and  distress — and 
finally  its  audacious  violation  of  its  charter,  by  turning  a 
Committee  of  Congress  from  its  doors  ?  To  these  ques 
tions  every  man  not  deaf  or  blind,  physically  or  mentally, 
must  return  an  answer  in  the  affirmative. 

The  other  portion  of  this  patriotic  party,  which  is  now 
waging  fight  in  defence  of  the  Constitution  and  laws 
against  the  usurpations  of  a  despot,  is  composed  of  those 
true  lovers  of  their  country  and  its  happy  institutions 
who,  a  little  while  ago,  showed  their  devotion  for  the  con 
stitution  by  raising  the  standard  of  rebellion — by  arming 
themselves  against  the  laws — and  threatening  to  cut  to 
pieces  the  officer  who  should  attempt  to  carry  them  into 
execution.  The  tyranny  and  usurpation  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  were  then  shown  in  his  preserving  the  Union 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  159 

against  their  parricidal  assaults  and  taming  their  fiery 
spirits  to  obedience.  Their  foiled  leader,  moved  by  rest 
less  ambition  and  implacable  hatred,  now  stands  among 
the  foremost  champions  of  the  Bank — he  who  but  a  few 
months  since  was  ready  to  drown  the  country  in  blood  in 
defence  of  state  rights,  is  now  the  advocate  of  an  insti- 
tion,  which  has  not  a  word  of  warrant  in  the  Constitution, 
and  the  inevitable  effect  of  which,  sooner  or  later,  must 
be  to  melt  this  confederation  into  one  vast  consolidated 
empire,  and  place  an  aristocracy  at  its  head. 

These  are  the  materials  of  which  the  party  opposed  to 
the  administration  is  mainly  composed.  There  are  joined 
with  them,  a  certain  class  of  men  in  the  mercantile  cities, 
who  are  such  pure  and  intelligent  patriots,  that  no  ques 
tion,  of  whatever  importance  to  the  country,  could  bring 
them  into  the  field  of  politics,  unless  it  directly  affected 
their  personal  and  pecuniary  interest — men  whose  hearts 
are  in  their  money-bags — whose  patriotism  rises  and  falls 
with  the  rates  of  exchange  and  the  price  of  stocks — 
whose  constitutional  scruples  are  so  nice,  that  it  is  a 
sufficient  answer  with  them  to  all  the  objections  to  the 
United  States  Bank,  that  it  furnishes  a  convenient  me 
dium  for  the  management  of  domestic  exchanges.  These 
men  join  in  the  cry  of  executive  tyranny  and  usurpa 
tion,  and  complain  that  the  national  faith  is  violated  by 
the  removal  of  the  deposites  ! 

This  then  is  the  party  which  claims  to  be  called  Whigs, 
and  repudiates  the  name  of  the  Bank  party.  Yet  what 
are  they  contending  for  but  the  re-charter  of  the  United 
States  Bank  ?  What  has  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  been  doing  for  six  months  past,  but  reading  and 
making  speeches  about  memorials  praying  for  the  resto 
ration  of  the  deposites  and  the  renewal  of  the  Bank  char 
ter  1  What  is  the  burden  of  every  harangue  from  the 
opponents  of  the  administration,  but  a  declaration  that 


160  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

the  country  cannot  prosper  without  a  national  Bank  ? 
What  is  the  object  of  every  journal  of  their  party,  but  to 
obtain  a  re-charter  of  the  Bank  ?  Bank  !  Bank  !  Bank ! 
is  their  constant  theme — it  is  the  prayer  of  their  meetings 
— the  topic  of  their  newspaper  declamation — and  the  be- 
ginning,  middle  and  end  of  the  violent  philippics  of  the 
partizans  of  that  institution  in  Congress.  The  Bank 
is  the  band  which  holds  this  ill-assorted  party  together — 
it  is  the  magazine  which  furnishes  them  with  weapons — 
it  is  the  treasury  which  supplies  them  with  means.  It  is 
by  the  aid  of  the  Bank  that  they  hope  to  pull  down  the 
administration. 

The  cry  of  Executive  usurpation  and  despotism  is  mere 
declamation  to  mislead  the  unwary — it  is  mere  dust  and 
smoke  to  hide  the  real  object.  The  Bank  is  the  real  ob 
ject  of  the  warfare  ;  for  it  is  only  through  the  Bank  that 
any  leader  of  the  desperate  faction  can  hope  to  succeed. 
Yet  aware  of  the  honest  indignation  felt  by  the  People  at 
the  contemplation  of  the  numerous  acts  of  corruption  and 
audacity  practised  by  that  institution — and  particularly 
afraid  of  the  effect  of  its  last  daring  and  unprecedented 
step — they  now  seek  to  cast  off  the  name  of  Bank  party? 
and  to  be  known  only  by  their  stolen  appellation  of  Whigs. 
Whigs,  indeed  !  What  right  have  they  to  that  title,  in 
separably  associated  as  it  is  with  the  memory  of  patriot, 
ism  and  valour  and  manly  worth  ?  What  right  have 
they — tories  in  all  that  distinguished  tories  in  the  revolu 
tion — to  a  name  which  implies  love  of  freedom  and  the 
equal  rights  of  mankind  ?  No,  let  us  not  lose  sight  of 
their  proper — their  only  proper  designation.  They  are 
not  whigs,  and  from  this  hour  forth  shall  never  be  so  styled 
in  this  journal.  They  are  the  BANK  PARTY — a  name 
significant  of  infamy — a  name  with  which  they  will  go 
down  in  history,  and 

"  Stink  in  the  nose  of  all  succeeding  time, — " 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  161 

a  name  which  they  have  richly  earned  by  their  unprinci 
pled  support  of  an  unconstitutional,  dangerous,  most  cor 
rupt  and  usurping  institution.  Let  that  name  stick  to 
them.  The  democracy  ought  to  call  them  by  no  other. 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  BANK. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  June  9,  1834.] 
THE  Bank  of  the  United  States  desires  to  carry  on  its 
business  in  secret  and  hide  the  record  of  its  corruptions 
from  every  eye,  and  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
some  of  whose  members  are  doubtless  governed  in  the 
matter  by  strong  reasons,  are  determined  to  gratify  that 
desire.  The  Bank  has  now  been  more  than  six  months 
wholly  free  from  the  supervision  of  Government  Direc 
tors.  The  Senate  have  made  the  office  of  Government 
Director  so  unpleasantly  conspicuous,  and  the  honest 
exercise  of  its  duties  a  subject  of  such  reproaches  and 
abuse,  that  there  are  few  men  willing  to  accept  the  unen 
viable  trust,  and  those  who  do  are  turned  away  from  the 
Bank  on  the  ground  of  their  not  having  been  invited  ! 
The  reader  ought  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  con 
duct  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Branch  Bank  in 
this  city  to  Saul  Alley,  was  in  pursuance  of  orders  from 
Nicholas  Biddle  !  The  two  checks  provided  by  the  cau 
tious  framers  of  the  Bank  charter,  to  prevent  it  from 
abusing  its  enormous  money  power — namely  the  right  of 
the  Government  to  be  represented  by  five  directors  at  its 
Board,  and  of  either  House  of  Congress  to  appoint  a 
Committee  to  look  into  its  affairs,  are  completely  de 
stroyed  by  the  high-handed  conduct  of  that  guilty  insti 
tution,  and  its  collusory  assistants  in  the  United  States 
Senate.  How  much  longer  will  this  audacious  monopoly 
be  allowed  to  abuse  the  patience  of  the  People  ? 
14* 


POLITICAL   WRITINGS   OF 
TRUE  FUNCTIONS  OF  GOVERNMENT. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Nov.  21,  1834.] 

"  There  are  no  necessary  evils  in  Government.  Its 
evils  exist  only  in  its  abuses.  If  it  would  confine  itself 
to  equal  protection)  and,  as  heaven  does  its  rains,  shower 
its  favours  alike  on  the  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  it  would  be  an  unqualified  blessing." 

This  is  the  language  of  our  venerated  President,  and 
the  passage  deserves  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold,  for 
neither  in  truth  of  sentiment  or  beauty  of  expression  can 
it  be  surpassed.  We  choose  it  as  our  text  for  a  few  re 
marks  on  the  true  functions  of  Government. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  all  governments  is  the 
protection  of  person  and  property  from  domestic  and 
foreign  enemies ;  in  other  words,  to  defend  the  weak 
against  the  strong.  By  establishing  the  social  feeling  in 
a  community,  it  was  intended  to  counteract  that  selfish 
feeling,  which,  in  its  proper  exercise,  is  the  parent  of  all 
worldly  good,  and,  in  its  excesses,  the  root  of  all  evil. 
The  functions  of  Government,  when  confined  to  their 
proper  sphere  of  action,  are  therefore  restricted  to  the 
making  of  general  laws,  uniform  and  universal  in  their 
operation,  for  these  purposes,  and  for  no  other. 

Governments  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  pur- 
suits  of  individuals,  as  guarantied  by  those  general  laws, 
by  offering  encouragements  and  granting  privileges  to 
any  particular  class  of  industry,  or  any  select  bodies  of 
men,  inasmuch  as  all  classes  of  industry  and  all  men  are 
equally  important  to  the  general  welfare,  and  equally  en 
titled  to  protection. 

Whenever  a  Government  assumes  the  power  of  dis 
criminating  between  the  different  classes  of  the  commu 
nity,  it  becomes,  in  effect,  the  arbiter  of  their  prosperity, 
and  exercises  a  power  not  contemplated  by  any  intelli- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  163 

gent  people  in  delegating  their  sovereignty  to  their  rulers. 
It  then  becomes  the  great  regulator  of  the  profits  of 
every  species  of  industry,  and  reduces  men  from  a  de 
pendence  on  their  own  exertions,  to  a  dependence  on  the 
caprices  of  their  Government.  Governments  possess  no 
delegated  right  to  tamper  with  individual  industry  a  sin 
gle  hair's -breadth  beyond  what  is  essential  to  protect  the 
rights  of  person  and  property. 

In  the  exercise  of  this  power  of  intermeddling  with 
the  private  pursuits  and  individual  occupations  of  the 
citizen,  a  Government  may  at  pleasure  elevate  one  class 
and  depress  another  ;  it  may  one  day  legislate  exclusive 
ly  for  the  farmer,  the  next  for  the  mechanic,  and  the 
third  for  the  manufacturer,  who  all  thus  become  the  mere 
puppets  of  legislative  cobbling  and  tinkering,  instead  of 
independent  citizens,  relying  on  their  own  resources  for 
their  prosperity.  It  assumes  the  functions  which  belong 
alone  to  an  overruling  Providence,  and  affects  to  become 
the  universal  dispenser  of  good  and  evil. 

This  power  of  regulating — of  increasing  or  diminish 
ing  the  profits  of  labour  and  the  value  of  property  of  all 
kinds  and  degrees,  by  direct  legislation,  in  a  great  mea 
sure  destroys  the  essential  object  of  all  civil  compacts, 
which,  as  we  said  before,  is  to  make  the  social  a  counter 
poise  to  the  selfish  feeling.  By  thus  operating  directly 
on  the  latter,  by  offering  one  class  a  bounty  and  another 
a  discouragement,  they  involve  the  selfish  feeling  in 
every  struggle  of  party  for  the  ascendancy,  and  give  to 
the  force  of  political  rivalry  all  the  bitterest  excitement 
of  personal  interests  conflicting  with  each  other.  Why 
is  it  that  parties  now  exhibit  excitement  aggravated  to  a 
degree  dangerous  to  the  existence  of  the  Union  and  to 
the  peace  of  society?  Is  it  not  that  by  frequent  exercises 
of  partial  legislation,  almost  every  man's  personal  in 
terests  have  become  deeply  involved  in  the  result  of  the 


164'  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

contest  ?  In  common  times,  the  strife  of  parties  is  the 
mere  struggle  of  ambitious  leaders  for  power ;  now  they 
are  deadly  contests  of  the  whole  mass  of  the  people, 
whose  pecuniary  interests  are  implicated  in  the  event, 
because  the  Government  has  usurped  and  exercised  the 
power  of  legislating  on  their  private  affairs.  The  selfish 
feeling  has  been  so  strongly  called  into  action  by  this 
abuse  of  authority  as  almost  to  overpower  the  social 
feeling,  which  it  should  be  the  object  of  a  good  Govern 
ment  to  foster  by  every  means  in  its  power. 

No  nation,  knowingly  and  voluntarily,  with  its  eyes 
open,  ever  delegated  to  its  Government  this  enormous 
power,  which  places  at  its  disposal  the  property,  the  in 
dustry,  and  the  fruits  of  the  industry,  of  the  whole  peo 
ple.  As  a  general  rule,  the  prosperity  of  rational  men 
depends  on  themselves.  Their  talents  and  their  virtues 
shape  their  fortunes.  They  are  therefore  the  best  judges 
of  their  own  affairs,  and  should  be  permitted  to  seek 
their  own  happiness  in  their  own  way,  untrammelled  by 
the  capricious  interference  of  legislative  bungling,  so 
long  as  they  do  not  violate  the  equal  rights  of  others,  nor 
transgress  the  general  laws  for  the  security  of  person  and 
property. 

But  modern  refinements  have  introduced  new  princi 
ples  in  the  science  of  Government.  Our  own  Govern 
ment,  most  especially,  has  assumed  and  exercised  an  au 
thority  over  the  people,  not  unlike  that  of  weak  and  va 
cillating  parents  over  their  children,  and  with  about  the 
same  degree  of  impartiality.  One  child  becomes  a  fa 
vourite  because  he  has  made  a  fortune,  and  another  be 
cause  he  has  failed  in  the  pursuit  of  that  object ;  one 
because  of  its  beauty,  and  another  because  of  its  defor 
mity.  Our  Government  has  thus  exercised  the  right  of 
dispensing  favours  to  one  or  another  class  of  citizens  at 
will ;  of  directing  its  patronage  first  here  and  then  there  ; 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  165 

of  bestowing  one  day  and  taking  back  the  next  ;  of 
giving  to  the  few  and  denying  to  the  many  ;  of  invest 
ing  wealth  with  new  and  exclusive  privileges,  and  dis 
tributing,  as  it  were  at  random,  and  with  a  capricous 
policy,  in  unequal  portions,  what  it  ought  not  to  bestow, 
or  what,  if  given  away,  should  be  equally  the  portion  of 
all. 

A  government  administered  on  such  a  system  of  poli 
cy  may  be  called  a  Government  of  Equal  Rights,  but  it 
is  in  its  nature  and  essence  a  disguised  despotism.  It 
is  the  capricious  dispenser  of  good  and  evil,  without  any 
restraint,  except  its  own  sovereign  will.  It  holds  in  its 
hand  the  distribution  of  the  goods  of  this  world,  and  is 
consequently  the  uncontrolled  master  of  the  people. 

Such  was  not  the  object  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  nor  such  the  powers  delegated  to  it  by  the 
people.  The  object  was  beyond  doubt  to  protect  the 
weak  against  the  strong,  by  giving  them  an  equal  voice 
and  equal  rights  in  the  state  ;  not  to  make  one  portion 
stronger,  the  other  weaker  at  pleasure,  by  crippling  one 
or  more  classes  of  the  community,  or  making  them  tribu 
tary  to  one  alone.  This  is  too  great  a  power  to  entrust 
to  Government.  It  was  never  given  away  by  the  peo- 
pie,  and  is  not  a  right,  but  a  usurpation. 

Experience  will  show  that  this  power  has  always  been 
exercised  under  the  influence  and  for  the  exclusive  bene 
fit  of  wealth.  It  was  never  wielded  in  behalf  of  the 
community.  Whenever  an  exception  is  made  to  the 
general  law  of  the  land,  founded  on  the  principle  of  equal 
rights,  it  will  always  be  found  to  be  in  favour  of  wealth. 
These  immunities  are  never  bestowed  on  the  poor. 
They  have  no  claim  to  a  dispensation  of  exclusive  bene 
fits,  and  their  only  business  is  to  "  take  care  of  the  rich 
that  the  rich  may  take  care  of  the  poor." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  sole  reliance  of  the  labour- 


166 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 


ing  classes,  who  constitute  a  vast  majority  of  every 
people  on  the  earth,  is  the  great  principle  of  Equal 
Rights ;  that  their  only  safeguard  against  oppression  is  a 
system  of  legislation  which  leaves  all  to  the  free  exer 
cise  of  their  talents  and  industry,  within  the  limits  of  the 
GENERAL  LAW,  and  which,  on  no  pretence  of  public  good, 
bestows  on  any  particular  class  of  industry,  or  any  parti- 
cular  body  of  men,  rights  or  privileges  not  equally  en- 
joyed  by  the  great  aggregate  of  the  body  politic. 

Time  will  remedy  the  departures  which  have  already 
been  made  from  this  sound  republican  system,  if  the 
people  but  jealously  watch  and  indignantly  frown  on  any 
future  attempts  to  invade  their  equal  rights,  or  appropri 
ate  to  the  few  what  belongs  to  all  alike.  To  quote,  in 
conclusion,  the  language  of  the  great  man,  with  whose 
admirable  sentiment  we  commenced  these  remarks,  « it 
is  time  to  pause  in  our  career— if  we  cannot  at  once,  injus 
tice  to  the  interests  vested  under  improvident  legislation, 
make  our  government  what  it  ought  to  be,  we  can  at 
least  take  a  stand  against  all  new  grants  of  monopolies 
and  exclusive  privileges,  and  against  any  prostitution  of 
our  Government  to  the  advancement  of  the  few  at  the 
expense  of  the  many." 


CORPORATIONS. 

[From  the  Evening  Port,  November  22, 1834.] 
IN  reading  the  lucubrations  of  the  advocates  of  mo 
nopolies  and  incorporations,  one  might  be  induced  to 
wonder  how  other  countries,  not  favoured  with  the  mar 
velous  expedients  for  "  the  proper  development  of  enter 
prise,"  and  "  the  employment  of  capital,"  managed  not 
only  to  exist,  but  to  enjoy  a  reasonable  degree  of  prospe 
rity.  According  to  their  doctrine,  the  people,  in  their 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  167 

capacity  of  a  body  politic,  can  do  nothing  ;  individual 
capital,  except  aided  by  exclusive  privileges,  can  do  no 
thing  in  the  way  of  public  improvements.  Without 
incorporations  we  can  have  no  roads  ;  without  incorpo 
rations  we  can  have  no  canals,  or  any  other  public  im 
provements  ;  without  incorporations  we  can  have  no 
money  ;  and,  by  and  by,  we  shall  perhaps  be  told  that 
unless  the  bakers  be  incorporated  we  shall  have  no  bread. 
In  order  to  have  public  improvements,  "a  proper  develop 
ment  of  enterprise,"  and  "  a  beneficial  employment  of 
capital,"  it  would  seem,  according  to  these  writers,  that 
it  is  indispensable  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
should  be  divested  of  the  Equal  Rights  guarantied  to  them 
by  the  constitution. 

Did  these  advocates  of  incorporations  ever  read  of  the 
great  Roman  acqueduct  for  conveying  water  from  Tus- 
culum  to  Rome  ?  Did  they  ever  hear  of  the  Appian  way, 
both  the  work  of  one  single  man  ?  Or  did  they  ever 
hear  of  the  Flaminian  way,  also  the  work  of  one  magni 
ficent  Roman  ?  These  works,  like  the  Egyptian  pyra 
mids,  seem  destined  to  be  coeval  with  the  duration  of 
the  earth  which  supports  them.  Some  twenty  centuries 
have  elapsed  since  their  construction,  and  almost  a  hun 
dred  generations  have  availed  themselves  of  these  great 
public  benefits,  and  still  they  remain  the  almost  eternal 
monuments  of  individual  public  spirit.  Will  any  of  our 
railroads,  or  incorporated  bridges,  last  as  long  ?  For  a 
period  of  near  two  thousand  years,  the  inhabitants 
of  Rome,  and  all  the  world  that  flocked  to  Rome,  have 
enjoyed  the  benefits  of  these  great  public  improvements, 
without  paying  a  single  cent  in  tolls,  or  for  a  drink  of 
water,  and  without  the  grant  of  a  single  exclusive  privi 
lege  to  any  man  or  association  of  men.  Neither  Appius 
Claudius,  nor  Titus  Flaminius,  nor  their  heirs,  ever  levied 
contributions  on  the  people  of  Rome  for  the  water  of  the 


168  POLITICAL     WHITINGS    OF 

acqueduct,  or  the  use  of  the  road.  We  never  heard  that 
either  Appius  or  Flaminius  was  incorporated  ;  transmut 
ed  into  irresponsible  nonentities,  above  the  laws,  or  so 
slippery  as  to  evade  their  operation.  They  were  mere 
simple  individuals — one  an  orator,  the  other  a  soldier  who 
fell  in  defending  his  country  against  Hannibal.  Actuat 
ed  by  a  noble  spirit  of  patriotism,  they  gave  to  their 
countrymen,  as  a  free  gift,  what  it  seems  can  now  only 
be  attained  in  this  modern  republic  by  grants  of  exclu 
sive  privileges,  and  by  a  perpetual  tax  upon  the  people. 

All  the  ancient  world  is  filled  with  instances  of  these 
noble  benefactions  for  public  purposes ;  and  is  there  any 
reason  why  this  new  world  should  not  emulate  the  exam 
ple  ?  A  few  Stephen  Girards  might  in  a  similar  spirit  of 
munificence  confer  equal  benefits  on  this  country.  But 
we  do  not  rely  upon  individual  wealth  or  patriotism  to  do 
all  that  is  salutary  in  the  way  of  public  improvements. 
We  look  to  the  wants  of  the  people,  and  to  the  great  inter 
ests  of  the  community  at  large  for  such  purposes.  Is 
the  hope  fallacious,  or  have  we  no  examples  to  encourage 
us? 

Let  us  see  what  the  PEOPLE,  through  the  agency  of 
their  representatives,  have  already  done  in  this  and  other 
States  of  the  Union  ;  and  let  us  look  what  they  and  their 
rulers  have  done  elsewhere.  Was  the  great  canal  of 
Languedoc  the  work  of  an  incorporated  company  ?  Was 
that  system  of  canals  in  China,  to  which  the  old  world 
affords  no  parallel,  the  work  of  an  incorporated  company 
or  companies  ?  Are  the  great  system  of  internal  im. 
provements,  in  operation  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  the 
work  of  incorporated  companies,  or  are  they  the  work  of 
the  people  of  those  states  through  the  agency  of  their 
common  representatives,  and  by  means  of  their  common 
resources?  And  last,  though  not  least,  have  not  the 
greatest  works  of  this  age,  the  Erie  and  Champlain  ca. 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  169 

nals,  been  achieved  by  the  people,  the  great  body  politic 
of  the  state,  after  an  incorporated  company  had  totally 
failed  in  completing  one  small  section  of  this  noble  en 
terprise  ?  Nay,  let  us  go  further,  and  ask  whether  in 
nine  cases  in  ten  incorporated  companies  for  great  na 
tional  objects,  have  not  failed,  and  been  obliged  at  last  to 
throw  themselves  on  the  charity  of  the  state  for  support  ? 
Have  we  forgotten  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Com 
pany,  and  the  loans  of  state  credit  ?  And  is  it  not  noto 
rious  that  at  this  moment  the  Ohio  and  Chesapeake  Ca 
nal  Company  is  dependent  on  Congress  for  the  ability  to 
pay  the  interest  on  its  Dutch  loan  1  Instances  might  be 
multiplied  to  tediousness  were  it  necessary,  but  the  re 
collection  of  every  man  will  supply  them. 

In  the  face  of  these  undeniable  facts,  we  are  not  to  be 
told,  that  we  are  for  putting  an  end  to  all  future  public 
improvements,  because  we  are  opposed  to  incorporations. 
The  imputation  is  as  weak  as  it  is  unfounded,  for  the 
examples  we  have  adduced,  and  could  adduce  by  scores, 
sufficiently  prove  that  incorporated  companies  are  not  in 
dispensable,  not  even  safe  agents  to  depend  upon  for  our 
public  improvements. 

We  will  suppose,  however,  for  the  sake  of  argument, 
that  the  canals  of  New  York  had  been  the  work  of  incor 
porations,  and  not  of  the  great  body  politic  acting  through 
its  representatives.  The  charter  being  perpetual,  the 
tolls  would  of  course  be  also  perpetual,  and  thus  the  peo 
ple  of  this  and  other  states  making  use  of  these  conve 
niences,  would  have  paid  a  perpetual  tax  to  the  company, 
long  after  it  had  been  amply  remunerated  for  all  the  ex 
pense  and  risk  of  constructing  them.  Being  however 
the  work  of  the  people  the  case  is  far  otherwise.  The 
tolls  are  now  rapidly  extinguishing  the  canal  debt ;  in  a 
few  years  it  will  be  entirely  paid,  and  the  people  will 
then  enjoy  this  great  public  benefit,  at  the  trifling  cost  of 
VOL.  I.— 15 


170         POLITICAL  WRITINGS  OF 

keeping  it  in  repair.  On  the  other  hand,  the  company 
would  enjoy  a  perpetuity  ;  it  would  accumulate  millions 
upon  millions  of  the  money  of  the  people,  and  every 
attempt  to  diminish  its  exorbitant  gains,  would  be  resisted 
as  an  innovation  on  the  sacred  principle  of  "  vested 
rights." 

Here  then  is  exhibited  a  complete  and  fair  exemplifi 
cation  of  the  relative  advantages  of  a  system  of  public 
improvements  prosecuted  by  the  people  themselves,  and 
one  exclusively  confined  to  incorporations.      In  the  one 
case  the  people  after  paying  for  the  improvement,  enjoy 
it  ever  afterwards  free  of  all  taxes,  except  for  repairs  ; 
in  the  other  they  are   saddled  with  a  perpetual  burden, 
and  condemned  to  pay  for  it  ten  times  over  to  the  corpo 
ration.     It  may  be  said,   that  there  is  no  advantage  in 
this  exemption  from  toll  to  the  state,  by  the  state,  since 
the  money  is  paid  by  one  hand  and  received  by  the  other. 
But  this  is  a  view  of  the  case  entirely  fallacious.     The 
doctrine  would  equally  apply  to  every  species  of  taxation, 
and  it  might  be  asserted  with  equal  truth,  that  the  amount 
of  public  burdens  is  a  matter  of  no  sort  of  consequence, 
provided  the  money  is  again  distributed  among  the  peo 
ple.     This  we  know  is  one  of  the  favourite  fallacies  of  a 
particular  school  of  political  economists,  but  it  will  not 
do  here  we  trust.     According  to  them,  every  thing  moves 
in  a  circle ;  the   money  taken  from  the  people  is  distri 
buted  among  them  again,  and  the  circulation  like  that  of 
the  blood,  gives  life  and  vigour  to  the  body  politic.     The 
mischief  however  is,  that  there  is  no  certainty  that  the 
same  man  who  pays  five  dollars,  will  ever  receive  it  back 
again ;  and  that  if  he  does,  it  is  so  long  in  coming,  that 
«  while  the  grass  grows  the  steed  may  starve."     Gener 
ally  speaking,  every  man's  money  is  safest  in  his   own 
pocket,  and  he  does  not  require  the  aid  of  government  in 
its  distribution. 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  171 


LITERARY  CORPORATIONS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  November  26,  1834.] 
WHEN,  a  few  days  ago,  we  expressed  the  opinion,  that 
so  contrary  to  the  principle  of  equal  liberty  is  the  prin 
ciple  of  corporations,  that  a  legislature,  governed  by  sin- 
cere  and  enlightened  sentiments  of  democracy,  would 
refuse  to  incorporate  even  a  college  or  a  church,  an  ex 
clamation  of  pious  horror  was  raised  by  certain  opposi 
tion  prints,  which  were  very  glad,  no  doubt,  to  seize  the 
pretext  of  regard  for  the  institutions  and  best  interests  of 
learning  and  religion,  as  an  occasion  for  defending  their 
favourite  aristocratic  system  of  monopolies  and  exclusive 
privileges,  through  the  instrumentality  of  which  alone 
can  they  ever  hope  to  break  down  the  power  of  the 
people,  and  reduce  the  many  into  subserviency  to  the  few. 
That  what  we  said  did  not  proceed  from  any  want  of 
veneration  for  the  vast  benefits  to  society  of  religion  and 
learning,  our  readers  will  readily  believe  ;  and,  indeed, 
this  might  be  inferred  from  the  very  ground  on  which 
we  assail  the  principle  of  corporations,  as  hostile  to  the 
principle  of  equal  freedom ;  since  we  think  it  will  not  be 
denied  that  a  free  country,  of  all  others,  is  most  favour 
able  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  virtue,  and  to  the  devel 
opment  of  the  human  mind.  But  if  we  look  at  the  sub 
ject  of  corporate  institutions  of  learning  merely  in  a  poli 
tico-economical  point  of  view,  we  think  it  will  be  easy 
to  discover  that  the  interests  of  society  are  not  promoted 
by  giving  charters  of  incorporation  to  seminaries  of  edu 
cation.  We  shall  make  this  the  subject  of  our  leading 
article  this  afternoon ;  and  in  the  first  place  let  us  pro. 
pose  the  following  questions. 

Have  the  charters  of  incorporation  bestowed  on  our 
colleges  contributed,  in  general,  to  promote  the  ends  of 


172  POLITICAL     WRITINGS    OF 

their  institution  ?     Have  they  contributed  to  encourage 
the  diligence,  and  to  improve  the  abilities  of  the  teach 
ers?  Have  they  directed  the  course  of  education  towards 
objects  more  useful,  both  to  the  individual  and  to  the 
public,  than  those  to  which  it  would  naturally  have  gone 
of  its  own  accord  ?     It  would  not  seem  very  difficult  to 
give  at  least  a  probable  answer  to  each  of  these  questions. 
In  every  profession,  the  exertion  of  the  greater  part  of 
those  who  exercise  it,  is  always  in  proportion  to  the  ne 
cessity   they  are  under  of  making  that  exertion.     This 
necessity  is  greatest  with  those  to  whom  the  emoluments 
of  their  profession  are  the  only  source  from  which  they 
expect  their  fortune,  or  even  their  ordinary  revenue  and 
subsistence.     In  order  to  acquire  this  fortune,  or  even  to 
get  this  subsistence,  they  must,  in  the  course  of  a  year, 
execute  a  certain  quantity  of  work  of  a  known  value  ; 
and  where  the  competition  is  free,  the  rivalship  of  com 
petitors,  who  are  all  endeavouring  to  justle  one  another 
out  of  employment,  obliges  every  man  to  endeavour  to 
execute  his  work  with  a  certain   degree  of  exactness. 
The  greatness  of  the  objects  which  are  to  be  acquired  by 
success  in  some  particular  professions,  may,  no  doubt 
sometimes  animate  the  exertions  of  a  few  men  of  extra 
ordinary  spirit  and  ambition.     Great  objects,  however, 
are  evidently  not  necessary  in  order  to  create  the  great 
est  exertions.     Rivalship  and  emulation  render  excellen 
cy,  even  in  mean  professions,  an  object  of  ambition,  and 
frequently  occasion  the  very  greatest  exertions.     Great 
objects,  on  the  contrary,  alone  and  unsupported  by  the 
necessity  of  application,  have  seldom  been  sufficient  to 
occasion   any  considerable   exertion.     Success    in    the 
profession  of  the  law  leads  to  some  very  great  objects  of 
ambition  ;  and  yet  how  few  men,  born  to  easy  fortunes, 
have  ever,  in  this  country,  been  eminent  in  that  profes. 
sion ! 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  173 

One  of  the  effects  of  the  charters  of  corporation  be 
stowed  on  colleges,  is  to  give  to  those  institutions  the 
facility  of  acquiring,  in  their  corporate  capacity,  and 
holding  from  generation  to  generation,  a  large  amount  of 
property.  Out  of  the  revenue  of  this  property  the  sala 
ries  of  professors  are  paid,  either  in  whole  or  in  part. 
Only  a  portion  of  the  expenses  of  the  institutions,  in  most 
cases,  at  least,  is  defrayed  from  the  sum  received  for  tui 
tion.  The  subsistence  of  a  professor,  then,  so  far  as  it  is 
defrayed  out  of  the  permanent  revenue  of  the  corpora, 
tion,  is  evidently  derived  from  a  fund  altogether  indepen 
dent  of  his  success  and  reputation  in  his  particular  pro 
fession.  His  interest  is,  in  this  case,  set  as  directly  in 
opposition  to  his  duty  as  it  is  possible  to  set  it.  It  is  the 
interest  of  every  man  to  live  as  much  at  his  ease  as  he 
can  ;  and  if  his  emoluments  are  to  be  precisely  the  same 
whether  he  does  or  does  not  perform  some  very  laborious 
duty,  it  is  certainly  his  interest,  at  least  as  interest  is 
vulgarly  understood,  either  to  neglect  it  altogether,  or,  if 
he  is  subject  to  some  authority  which  will  not  suffer  him 
to  do  this,  to  perform  it  in  as  careless  and  slovenly  a  man 
ner  as  that  authority  will  permit.  If  he  is  naturally  ac 
tive  and  a  lover  of  labour,  it  is  his  interest  to  employ  that 
activity  in  any  way  from  which  he  can  derive  some  ad 
vantage,  rather  than  in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  from 
which  he  can  derive  none. 

If  the  authority  to  which  he  is  subject  resides  in  the 
body  corporate,  the  college,  or  university,  of  which  he 
himself  is  a  member,  and  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the 
other  members  are,  like  himself,  persons  who  either  are 
or  ought  to  be  teachers,  they  are  likely  to  make  a  com 
mon  cause,  to  be  all  very  indulgent  to  one  another,  and 
every  man  to  consent  that  his  neighbour  may  neglect  his 
duty,  provided  he  himself  is  allowed  to  neglect  his  own. 

If  the  authority  to  which  he  is  subject  resides,  not  so 
15* 


174  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

much  in  the  body  corporate  of  which  he  is  a  member,  as 
in  some  other  extraneous  persons,  in  the  governor,  for 
example,  or  in  a  board  of  regents,  it  is  not  indeed  in  this 
case  very  likely  that  he  will  be  suffered  to  neglect  his 
duty  altogether.  All  that  such  superiors,  however,  can 
force  him  to  do,  is  to  attend  upon  his  pupils  a  certain  num 
ber  of  hours,  that  is,  to  give  a  certain  number  of  lectures 
in  the  week,  or  in  the  year.  What  those  lectures  shall 
be,  must  still  depend  upon  the  diligence  of  the  teacher  ; 
and  that  diligence  is  as  likely  to  be  proportioned  to  the 
motives  which  he  has  for  exerting  it.  An  extraneous 
jurisdiction  of  this  kind,  besides,  is  liable  to  be  exercised 
both  ignorantly  and  capriciously.  In  its  nature  it  is  ar 
bitrary  and  discretionary ;  and  the  persons  who  exercise 
it,  neither  attending  upon  the  lectures  of  the  teachers 
themselves,  nor  perhaps  understanding  the  sciences  which 
it  is  their  business  to  teach,  are  seldom  capable  of  exer 
cising  it  with  judgment.  From  the  insolence  of  office, 
too,  they  are  frequently  indifferent  how  they  exercise  it, 
and  are  very  apt  to  censure  or  deprive  of  office  wantonly 
and  without  just  cause.  The  person  subject  to  such  juris 
diction  is  necessarily  degraded  by  it,  and,  instead  of  being 
one  of  the  most  respectable,  is  rendered  one  of  the  mean 
est  and  most  contemptible  persons  in  society.  It  is  by 
powerful  protection  only  that  he  can  effectually  guard 
himself  against  the  bad  usage  to  which  he  is  at  all  times 
exposed  ;  and  this  protection  he  is  most  likely  to  gain, 
not  by  ability  and  diligence  in  his  profession,  but  by  obse 
quiousness  to  the  will  of  his  superiors,  and  by  being  ready 
at  all  times  to  sacrifice  to  that  will  the  rights,  the  interest, 
and  the  honour  of  the  body  corporate  of  which  he  is  a 
member.  Whoever  has  attended  for  any  considerable 
time  to  the  administration  of  a  French  university,  must 
have  had  occasion  to  remark  the  effects  which  naturally 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  175 

result  from  an  arbitrary  and  extraneous  jurisdiction  of 
this  kind. 

Whatever  forces  a  certain  number  of  students  to  any 
college  or  university,  independent  of  the  merit  and  repu 
tation  of  the  teachers,  tends  more  or  less  to  diminish  the 
necessity  of  that  merit  and  reputation. 

The  privileges  of  graduates  in  arts,  &c.  when  they  can 
be  obtained  only  by  residing  a  certain  number  of  years  in 
certain  universities,  necessarily  force  a  certain  number 
of  students  to  such  universities,  independent  of  the  merit 
and  reputation  of  the  teachers.  The  privileges  of  gradu 
ates  are  a  sort  of  statutes  of  apprenticeship,  which  have 
contributed  to  the  improvement  of  education,  just  as  the 
other  statutes  of  apprenticeship  have  to  that  of  arts  and 
manufactures. 

The  discipline  of  corporate  colleges  is  in  general  con 
trived,  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  students,  but  for  the  in 
terest,  or  more  properly  speaking,  for  the  ease  of  the 
masters.  Its  object  is,  in  all  cases,  to  maintain  the  au 
thority  of  the  master,  and,  whether  he  neglects  or  performs 
his  duty,  to  oblige  the  students  in  all  cases  to  behave  to 
him  as  if  he  performed  it  with  the  greatest  diligence  and 
ability.  It  seems  to  presume  perfect  wisdom  and  virtue 
in  the  one  order,  and  the  greatest  weakness  and  folly  in 
the  other.  Where  the  masters,  however,  really  perform 
their  duty,  there  are  no  examples,  I  believe,  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  students  ever  neglect  theirs.  No 
discipline  is  ever  requisite  to  force  attendance  upon  lec 
tures  which  are  really  worth  attending,  as  is  well  known 
wherever  any  such  lectures  are  given. 

Force  and  restraint  may,  no  doubt,  be  in  some  degree 
requisite  in  order  to  oblige  children,  or  very  young  boys, 
to  attend  to  those  parts  of  education  which  it  is  thought 
necessary  for  them  to  acquire  during  that  early  period  of 
life  ;  but  after  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  provided 


176  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

,  the  master  does  his  duty,  force  or  restraint  can  scarce  ever 
be  necessary  to  carry  on  any  part  of  education.  Such 
is  the  generosity  of  the  greater  part  of  young  men,  that, 
so  far  from  being  disposed  to  neglect  or  despise  the  in 
structions  of  their  master,  provided  he  shows  some  serious 
intention  of  being  of  use  to  them,  they  are  generally  in 
clined  to  pardon  a  great  deal  of  incorrectness  in  the  per- 
formance  of  his  duty,  and  sometimes  even  to  conceal  from 
the  public  a  good  deal  of  gross  negligence.  Those  parts 
of  education,  it  is  to  be  observed,  for  the  teaching  of 
which  there  are  no  public  institutions,  are  generally  the 
best  taught.  Schools  have  no  exclusive  privileges.  In 
order  to  obtain  the  honours  of  graduation,  it  is  not  neces 
sary  that  a  person  should  bring  a  certificate  of  his  hav 
ing  studied  a  certain  number  of  years  at  a  public  school. 
If  upon  examination  he  appears  to  understand  what  is 
taught  there,  no  questions  are  asked  about  the  place 
where  he  learnt  it. 

In  the  attention  which  the  ancient  philosophers  excit 
ed,  in  the  empire  which  they  acquired  over  the  opinions 
and  principles  of  their  auditors,  in  the  faculty  which  they 
possessed  of  giving  a  certain  tone  and  character  to  the 
conduct  and  conversation  of  those  auditors ;  they  appear 
to  have  been  much  superior  to  any  modern  teachers.  In 
modern  times,  the  diligence  of  public  teachers  is  more  or 
less  corrupted  by  the  circumstances,  which  render  them 
more  or  less  independent  of  their  success  and  reputation 
in  their  particular  professions.  Their  salaries  too  put 
the  private  teacher,  who  would  pretend  to  come  into 
competition  with  them,  in  the  same  state  with  a  mer 
chant  who  attempts  to  trade  without  a  bounty,  in  compe 
tition  with  those  who  trade  with  a  considerable  one.  If 
he  sells  his  goods  at  nearly  the  same  price,  he  cannot 
have  the  same  profit,  and  poverty  and  beggary  at  least, 
if  not  bankruptcy  and  ruin,  will  infallibly  be  his  lot.  If 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  177 

he  attempts  to  sell  them  much  dearer,  he  is  likely  to  have 
so  few  customers  that  his  circumstances  will  not  be  much 
mended.  The  "  privileges  "  of  graduation,  besides,  can 
be  obtained  only  by  attending  the  lectures  of  the  incor 
porated  institutions.  The  most  careful  attendance  upon 
the  ablest  instructions  of  any  private  teacher,  cannot  al 
ways  give  any  title  to  demand  them.  It  is  from  these 
different  causes  that  the  private  teacher  of  any  of  the 
sciences  which  are  commonly  taught  in  universities,  is 
in  modern  times  generally  considered  as  in  the  very  low 
est  order  of  men  of  letters.  A  man  of  real  abilities  can 
scarce  find  out  a  more  humiliating  or  a  more  unprofita 
ble  employment  to  turn  them  to.  The  endowments  of 
schools  and  colleges  have,  in  this  manner,  not  only  cor 
rupted  the  diligence  of  public  teachers,  but  have  rendered 
it  almost  impossible  to  have  any  good  private  ones. 

Were  there  no  public  institutions  for  education,  no 
system,  no  science  would  be  taught  for  which  there  was 
not  some  demand  ;  or  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  did  not  render  it,  either  necessary,  or  convenient,  or 
at  least  fashionable  to  learn.  A  private  teacher  could 
never  find  his  account  in  teaching,  either  an  exploded 
and  antiquated  system  of  a  science  acknowledged  to  be 
useful,  or  a  science  universally  believed  to  be  a  mere  use 
less  and  pedantic  heap  of  sophistry  and  nonsense.  Such 
systems,  such  sciences,  can  subsist  no  where,  but  in 
those  incorporated  societies  for  education  whose  prospe 
rity  and  revenue  are  in  a  great  measure  independent  of 
their  reputation,  and  altogether  independent  of  their  in 
dustry.  Were  there  no  public  institutions  for  education, 
a  gentleman,  after  going  through,  with  application  and 
abilities,  the  most  complete  course  of  education  which 
the  circumstances  of  the  times  were  supposed  to  afford, 
could  not  come  into  the  world  completely  ignorant  of 


178  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

every  thing  which  is  the  common  subject  of  conversation 
among  gentlemen  and  men  of  the  world. 

But  in  placing  these  speculations  before  our  readers, 
do  we  not  run  some  risk  of  being  again  called  "  a  little 
free-trade  crazy  ?"  Let  those  who  cannot  controvert  the 
views  and  arguments  ascribe  them  to  lunacy,  or  idiocy, 
if  they  please.  They  are  at  all  events  the  views  and 
arguments,  ay,  and  the  very  language,  too,  of  Adam 
Smith,  from  whose  immortal  work  on  the  Wealth  of  Na 
tions  we  have  borrowed  these  paragraphs,  having  copied 
them  literally,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  slight 
verbal  changes. 


CHARACTER  OF  MR.  VAN  BUREN. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  January  19, 1835.] 
DURING  the  session  of  the  national  and  state  legisla 
tures,  so  many  subjects  crowd  upon  our  attention  and 
occupy  our  columns,  that  we  are  frequently  obliged  to 
dismiss,  with  a  very  cursory  and  imperfect  notice,  mat 
ters  which  intrinsically  deserve  careful  and  particular 
comment.  This  was  the  case  with  the  letter  of  Mr.  Ben- 
ton  to  the  Democratic  Convention  of  the  State  of  Missis 
sippi,  declining  their  nomination  of  him  as  a  candidate 
for  Vice  President,  which  we  recently  had  the  pleasure 
of  laying  before  our  readers.  That  letter  so  highly  credi 
table  to  Mr.  Benton's  mind  and  heart,  so  illustrative  of  his 
intelligence,  firmness,  candour,  and  sincerity,  contained 
matters  well  worthy  of  being  recommended  to  the  con 
sideration  of  the  democracy  in  every  part  of  the  Union, 
by  frequent  and  earnest  editorial  comments. 

The  great  object  which  Mr.  Benton  had  in  view,  was 
to  impress  upon  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the  United 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  179 

States,  the  necessity  of  harmony  and  concert  in  relation 
to  the  candidates  for  the  two  highest  offices  of  the  Go 
vernment,  if  they  wish  to  succeed  in  those  cardinal  ob 
jects  of  the  republican  party  which  are  of  incalculably 
more  importance  than  ever  can  be,  under  any  circum 
stances,  the  gratification  of  mere  personal  preferences  or 
sectional  pride.  To  ensure  this  harmony,  as  far  as  lay 
in  his  own  power,  Mr.  Benton  did  not  merely  exercise 
his  eloquent  pen  in  delineating  the  consequences  which 
would  almost  inevitably  flow  from  divided  councils,  but 
gave  the  strongest  proof  of  his  disinterestedness  and  mag 
nanimity,  by  positively  declining  the  high  compliment 
which  had  been  paid  him,  and  refusing  to  suffer  his  name 
to  be  used  as  a  candidate  for  Vice  President,  thus  re 
moving  one  circumstance  which  he  feared  might  prove  an 
obstacle  to  the  desired  concord.  In  thus  doing,  though 
sinister  objects  are  of  course  imputed  to  him  by  those 
whose  business  and  pleasure  it  is  to  revile  all  the  promi 
nent  champions  of  democratic  principles,  yet  no  person 
of  the  least  candour  can  help  feeling,  in  his  secret  heart, 
that  Mr.  Benton  has  exhibited  an  evidence  of  singleness 
of  motive  and  nobleness  of  character  which  entitle  him 
to  the  increased  admiration  and  respect,  not  only  of  every 
true  republican,  but  of  every  man,  whatever  his  political 
creed,  who  can  appreciate  the  sacrifices  of  disinterested 
patriotism. 

It  would  have  been  highly  pleasing  to  us,  we  are  free  to 
confess,  if  it  had  been  considered  quite  compatible  with 
the  important  end  of  a  perfect  union  and  harmony  of 
purpose  and  action  among  the  democracy  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  to  have  seen  Mr.  Benton  placed  before  the 
people  as  the  republican  candidate  for  Vice  President. 
Well  has  he  deserved  such  a  mark  of  honour.  His  con 
sistency,  industry  and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  people  ; 
his  vigilance  in  detecting  the  arts  of  the  aristocracy  ;  his 


180  POLITICAL    WRITINGS    OF 

fearlessness  in  exposing  them  ;  his  readiness  to  stand 
forward,  at  all  times,  as  the  champion  of  democratic 
principles  ;  his  eloquence ;  his  blunt  and  manly  indepen 
dence  of  character  ;  and  the  honest  boldness  with  which 
his  indignant  feelings  have  always  led  him  to  rebuke 
those  who  seek  personal  aggrandizement  at  the  expense 
of  the  equal  rights  of  man :  these  are  qualities  which 
have  won  for  Mr.  Benton  the  general  regard  of  the  de 
mocracy,  and  have  caused  many  to  desire  that  he  might 
be  nominated  as  the  successor  of  Martin  Van  Buren  in 
the  place  which  the  latter  now  so  worthily  fills. 

We  do  not  know,  however,  whether  the  true  interests 
of  the  people  are  not  better  answered  by  the  course  Mr. 
Benton  has  determined  to  pursue.  Much  as  he  deserves 
to  be  elevated  to  a  higher  post,  we  do  not  know  whether 
he  could  well  be  spared  from  that  where  he  is  now  sta 
tioned.  His  talents,  his  firmness,  his  assiduity,  his  un 
shrinking  courage,  his  powerful  eloquence,  are  needed  in 
the  Senate  chamber.  We  do  not  question  that  he  would 
adorn  other  stations  ;  but  for  that  of  Senator  he  seems 
peculiarly  adapted.  His  masculine  understanding,  his 
resolute  heart,  his  diligent  and  unwearied  application, 
are  now  exerted  in  their  proper  sphere.  To  him  public 
business  seems  not  a  task,  but  a  pleasure ;  and  if  he  has  am 
bition  (as  no  great  mind  is  without  it)  his  recent  noble  act 
of  self-denial  sufficiently  proves  that  his  at  least  is  not  the 
ambition  which  begins  and  ends  and  centres  all  in  self, 
but  that  nobler  kind  which  seeks  to  win  its  way  through 
the  laborious  gradations  of  public  service,  and  achieve  its 
object  by  promoting  the  real  good  of  his  fellow-men. 

Those  who  duly  consider  Mr.  Benton's  letter,  will  find 
in  it  a  conclusive  answer  to  the  clamorous  objections 
which  the  aristocracy  urge  against  Martin  Van  Buren. 
Most  of  these  objections  consist  of  the  catchwords  of 
party  declamation,  and  do  not  deserve  reply,  until  they 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  181 

can  be  shown  to  rest  on  some  more  substantial  basis  than 
the  mere  imputations  of  political  hostility.  The  epithets 
of  magician  and  intriguer  have  been  reiterated  against 
him,  for  may  years,  with  all  the  earnestness  of  vitupera 
tive  malice  ;  but  we  are  not  aware  that  any  proof  has  yet 
been  exhibited,  or  even  attempted,  that  he  either  practi 
ces  "  arts  inhibited,"  or  that  he  winds  his  way  to  his  ob 
ject  through  the  devious  and  covert  mazes  of  subtlety 
and  intrigue.  t  We  have  been  attentive  readers,  for  a  long 
time  past,  of  the  charges  against  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and 
close  observers  of  his  public  conduct ;  and  our  respect  for 
his  talents,  his  integrity,  and  his  patriotism,  for  the  pu 
rity  of  his  motives,  and  the  wisdom  of  his  proceedings, 
has  increased  the  more  we  have  read  and  observed. 
Mere  denunciation,  however  often  reiterated,  is  not  likely 
to  injure  a  public  man  in  the  estimation  of  the  intelligent 
citizens  of  this  country.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  we 
should  have  lacked  the  executive  services  of  the  illustri 
ous  Jefferson  ;  the  reins  of  Government  would  never 
have  been  swayed  by  the  patriot  Jackson  ;  and  Martin 
Van  Buren  would  long  since  have  been  consigned  to  in 
famy  or  oblivion.  But  happily  "  curses  kill  not ;"  and 
till  something  more  relative  than  gibes  and  anathemas 
of  a  factious  aristocracy  can  be  uttered  against  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  he  stands  in  little  danger,  we  think,  of  losing  his 
strong  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  democracy  of  the 
United  States. 

The  brilliant  passage  in  Mr.  Benton's  letter,  in  rela 
tion  to  the  oft-repeated  charge,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  is 
of  the  non-committal  school,  "  a  flippant  phrase  got  by  rote 
and  parotted  against  him,"  must  stand  as  a  most  tri 
umphant  and  unanswerable  vindication  of  his  character 
from  whatever  is  derogatory  in  the  imputation.  Never 
in  any  instance,  where  the  obligations  of  honour  or  patri 
otism  required  that  he  should  commit  himself,  has  Mr. 
VOL.  I.— 16 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

Van  Buren  hesitated  to  speak  or  act.  The  public  have 
not  been  left  to  guess  his  views  on  important  questions. 
He  has  not,  it  is  true,  obtruded  himself,  uncalled  for,  be 
fore  the  nation,  and  hastily  volunteered  opinions  which  he 
was  afterwards  glad  to  retract.  He  has  not  committed 
himself,  like  the  leading  demagogues  worshipped  by  those 
who  raise  this  senseless  cry,  for  and  against  the  United 
States  Bank,  for  and  against  the  American  System,  and 
for  and  against  a  dozen  other  important  national  measures. 
His  first  care  has  been  to  acquaint  himself  thoroughly 
with  the  merits  of  all  great  questions  ;  and  once  satisfied 
of  the  right,  he  has  taken  his  ground  boldly  and  openly, 
and  maintained  it  firmly  to  the  end.  Hence  the  extra- 
ordinary  consistency  of  his  career.  No  politician  in  this 
country  has  pursued  a  more  even  and  undeviating  course. 
And  this  very  consistency,  amidst  all  the  fluctuations  of 
opinion  and  policy,  and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  public 
events,  is  as  strong  an  evidence  as  can  be  adduced  of 
the  soundness  of  his  motives,  and  the  boldness  of  his 
character. 

Had  Mr.  Van  Buren  been  distinguished  by  that 
species  of  timidity  which,  is  implied  in  the  phrase  non 
committal,  instead  of  pursuing  his  straight-forward  course 
through  good  report  and  through  evil  report,  he  would 
have  accommodated  himself  to  the  variations  of  public 
sentiment ;  he  would  have  trimmed  his  sail  to  the  popu 
lar  breeze  ;  he  would  have  veered  and  tacked,  now  steer 
ing  to  this  point,  and  now  to  that,  until  his  course  was  as 
mazy  as  that  of  Mr.  Webster  or  Mr.  Clay.  But  timidity, 
or  at  least  that  species  of  timidity  which  springs  from 
selfish  ambition,  is  no  part  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  If  he  has  ever  hesitated,  it  has  only  been  until 
he  could  satisfy  himself  what  was  demanded  by  the  true 
interests  of  his  country.  "  Interested  timidity,"  says 
Burke,  "  disgraces  as  much  in  the  cabinet,  as  personal 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  183 

timidity  does  in  the  field.  But  timidity,  with  regard  to 
the  well-being  of  our  country,  is  heroic  virtue."  This  is 
the  extent  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  timidity — this  is  the  only 
sense  in  which  the  cry  of  «  non-committal "  has  any 
truth. 

There  is  another  point  in  the  Letter  of  Mr.  Benton, 
to  which  we  take  pleasure  in  inviting  the  attention  of  our 
readers.     It  comes  in  here  as  an  appropriate  illustration 
of  the  absurdity  of  the  charge  to  which  we  have  just 
referred.     We  allude  to  the  brief  exposition  it  contains 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  views  on  the  subject  of  the  Bank 
system.     What  Mr.  Benton  says  on  that  subject,  must 
be  looked  upon  as  authentic.     The  nation  has  a  right  to 
consider  it  as  said  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  himself;    for  the 
circumstances   under   which   this  Letter   was   written, 
would  have  required  of  that  gentleman,  if  his  sentiments 
on  any  great  question  of  public  policy  were  inaccurately 
stated,  to  correct  the  error  in  as  public  a  form  as  that  in 
which  it  was  made.     The  silence  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  can. 
not  therefore  be  cited  as  an  instance  of"  non-committal ;" 
but,  on  the  contrary,  he  must  be  looked  upon  as  having 
early  and  decidedly  taken  his  stand  on  a  question  already 
of  exceeding  interest    in   several   states,   and   destined 
ere  long  to  become  a  chief  touchstone  of  democratic 
principles  throughout  the  Union.      We  have  great  plea 
sure,  then,  in  begging  our  readers  to  take  note  that  Mr. 
Van  Buren  "  is  a  real  hard-money  man  ;   opposed  to  the 
paper  system  ;  in  favour  of  a  national  currency  of  gold  ; 
in  favour  of  an  adequate  silver  currency  for  common  use  ; 
against  the  small  note  currency  ;    and  in  favour  of  con 
fining  bank  notes  to  their  appropriate  sphere  and  original 
functions,  that  of  large  notes  for  large  transactions  and 
mercantile  operations." 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  subject  of  the 
claims  of  New- York  to  supply  an  incumbent  of  thePre- 


184 


POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OP 

sidential  chair.  Our  paper,  not  a  great  while  ago,  con 
tained  a  most  excellent  article  from  the  Harrisburg  Re- 
porter,  in  which  the  propriety  of  nominating  Mr.  Van 
Buren  on  that  ground  was  urged  with  singular  eloquence 
and  force.  The  article  in  question,  as  we  have  access  to 
know,  came  from  the  pen  of  a  disinterested  and  enlight 
ened  man,  whose  sentiments  were  the  result  of  a  broad 
and  patriotic  view  of  the  whole  subject,  and  had  no  other 
object  than  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  our  common 
country.  For  our  own  part,  we  do  not  place  our  advo 
cacy  of  Martin  Van  Buren  on  sectional  grounds.  It  is 
the  least  of  his  claims,  in  our  sense,  that  he  drew  his  first 
breath  on  the  soil  of  the  Empire  State.  Show  us  a  woiv 
thier  man  ;  a  man  whose  career  has  been  more  con- 
sistent,  whose  services  have  been  more  useful,  whose 
principles  have  been  more  democratic,  whose  character 
has  been  freer  from  reproach  ;  show  us  a  man  more  en 
titled  to  the  confidence  of  the  democracy,  possessing  a 
larger  share  of  their  esteem,  and  more  likely  to  carry 
out  those  great  republican  principles  which  have  guided 
the  administration  of  Andrew  Jackson ;  show  us  such 
a  man,  and  we  will  to-morrow  withdraw  our  support 
from  Martin  Van  Buren  and  transfer  it  to  that  other  and 
worthier  one.  But  the  nation  contains  no  such  man  ; 
and  we  therefore  advocate  him,  not  as  the  favourite  son 
of  New- York,  but,  after  General  Jackson,  as  the  foremost 
champion  of  the  democracy  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  candidate  intrinsically  best  entitled  to  unite  all  their 
suffrages. 

These  are  our  sincere  sentiments,  governed  by  no  per 
sonal  considerations,  by  no  sectional  pride.  Were  we  a 
denizen  of  the  south  or  of  the  west,  Martin  Van  Buren 
would  still  be  our  choice.  And  the  south  and  the  west 
and  the  east  will  unite  with  the  "  great  middle  "  in  this 
preference,  and,  with  one  accordant  voice,  will  call  him 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  185 

to  preside  over  the  republic.  Aristocratic  railers  may 
continue  to  shower  their  abuse  on  his  head,  but  in  vain. 
It  is  the  fate  of  all  prominent  asserters  of  democratic 
principles  to  be  maligned  ;  and  if  their  rancour  is  fiercer 
towards  Martin  Van  Buren  than  any  other,  it  is  only  be- 
cause  he  is  more  strongly  fixed  in  the  affections  of  the 
people.  Their  attachment  rests  on  the  strong  basis  of 
his  real  worth.  They  look  through  the  aspersions  of  his 
enemies,  and  read  the  truth  for  themselves,  and  the  truth 
in  relation  to  that  distinguished  man,  needs  only  to  be 
known  to  insure  him  general  regard.  And  it  is  known. 
The  people  of  this  country  are  too  clear-sighted  to  be 
misled  by  the  mere  clamour  of  calumny  and  detraction, 
and  there  is  a  quality  in  truth  itself  which  is  sure  eventu 
ally  to  triumph  over  mirepresentation. 

Truth,  though  it  trouble  some  minds, 
Some  wicked  minds  that  are  both  dark  and  dangerous, 
Yet  it  preserves  itself,  comes  off  pure,  innocent, 
And  like  the  sun,  though  never  so  eclipsed, 
Must  break  in  glory. 


THE  JOINT-STOCK  PARTNERSHIP  LAW. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  January  23,  1835.] 
The  Attorney  General  of  this  State,  in  his  report  on 
the  subject  of  Corporations,  which  we  published  yester 
day,  says,  "  In  the  interpretation  of  the  constitution,  we 
ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  enter  into  the  mind  and  inten 
tion  of  those  who  framed  the  instrument,  and  adopt  that 
construction  which  will  best  fulfil  the  end  for  which  it  was 
made."  We  are  very  willing  that  the  ninth  section  of 
the  seventh  article  of  the  Constitution,  which  "  makes 
the  assent  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  elected  to  each 
branch  of  the  legislature  requisite  to  every  bill  creating, 
16* 


186  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

continuing,  altering,  or  renewing  any  body  politic  of 
corporate,"  should  be  interpreted  by  this  rule.  The  end 
for  which  that  section  was  framed  was  distinctly  ex- 
plained  by  Mr.  King,  chairman  of  the  committee  that 
introduced  it.  " The  common  law  abhorred  monopolies" 
he  said,  and  the  object  of  the  section  was  "  not  to  in- 
crease  them,  but  diminish  them  as  far  as  we  can  consist 
ently  with  the  preservation  of  vested  rights."  He  there- 
fore  had  reported  a  clause  requiring  a  two-thirds  vote, 
not  only  for  the  creation  of  any  new  corporation,  but  for 
altering,  continuing,  or  renewing  any  old  one.  But 
while  he  was  desirous  of  placing  this  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  granting  special  charters  of  incorporation,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  monopolies,  he  did  not  seek  to  ab 
rogate  or  limit  those  general  laws,  then  existing,  under 
which  voluntary  corporations,  for  certain  purposes,  and 
to  an  indefinite  number,  might  be  formed  by  whomsoever 
chose  to  enter  into  them.  Corporations,  no  matter  for 
what  purposes,  which  derived  their  existence  from  direct 
special  legislation,  were  monopolies,  and  those  the  Con 
stitution  sought  to  diminish  as  far  as  was  consistent  with 
vested  rights  ;  but  corporations  formed  under  laws  which 
were  of  equal  applicability  and  equally  open  to  the  whole 
community,  were  not  considered  monopolies,  and  there 
fore  no  change  or  modification  of  those  laws  was  pro 
posed. 

We  think  the  reader  who  carefully  peruses  the  Report 
of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution,  and 
strives  "to  enter  into  the  mind  and  intention  of  those 
who  framed  the  instrument,  and  adopt  the  construction 
which  will  best  fulfil  the  end  for  which  it  was  made,'' 
will  agree  with  us  in  the  view  we  have  here  taken.  The 
grand  general  aim  of  the  Constitution,  also,  to  protect 
the  community  in  their  equal  rights  of  person  and  pro 
perty,  ought  to  be  kept  constantly  in  sight  ;  as  well  as 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  187 

the  grand  democratic  maxim  of  equality  of  political  and 
civil  rights,  on  which  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  all 
are  founded. 

The  Attorney  General  is  of  opinion  that,  accord 
ing  to  the  Constitution,  "the  legislature  cannot  now 
provide  by  general  laws  for  the  incorporation  of  volun 
tary  associations,  but  must  act  directly  on  every  grant 
of  corporate  privileges,  creating  some  one  or  more  corpo 
rations  in  particular,"  Yet  he  is  of  opinion,  at  the  same 
time,  that  "  the  legislature  may,  by  one  act,  create  two 
or  more  corporate  bodies."  That  is  to  say,  they  may 
create  ten  thousand  corporations  by  one  act,  if  they 
please,  only  naming  each  particular  set  of  individuals 
incorporated,  but  cannot  pass  a  law  establishing  the 
general  principles  on  which  any  set  of  individuals  may 
form  themselves  into  a  corporation.  The  Constitution 
says,  « the  assent  of  two- thirds  of  the  members  elected 
to  each  branch  of  the  legislature  shall  be  requisite  to 
every  bill  creating,  continuing,  altering,  or  renewing  any 
body  politic  or  corporate."  If  every  bill  creating  any 
body  politic,  may  mean  a  bill  creating  a  myriad  of  bo 
dies  politic,  it  may  mean  any  thing.  The  object  of  the 
two-thirds  provision  was  to  insure  separate  and  careful 
deliberation  on  every  particular  application  for  a  special 
grant  of  corporate  privileges.  If  a  thousand  applications 
may  be  huddled  together,  and  one  bill  passed  granting  a 
corporate  franchise  to  all,  the  intention  of  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution  is  more  effectually  overleaped  than  it 
possibly  could  be  by  a  bill  establishing  the  general  princi 
ple*  and  conditions  under  which  any  association  of  men 
might  assume  and  exercise  corporate  powers.  But  the 
Constitution,  in  the  Attorney  General's  plastic  hand,  is 
a  mere  nose  of  wax,  and  is  moulded  into  what  shape  he 
pleases. 

The  thirteenth  section  of  the  seventeenth  article  of 


188  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

the  Constitution  continued  in  force  all  Jaws  then  exist 
ing  which  were  not  repugnant  to  any  of  its  provisions  ; 
but  all  laws  or  parts   of  laws    repugnant  to  the  Con- 
stitution  were  by  that  instrument  abrogated.      At  the 
time  the  Constitution  went  into  effect,    general   laws 
were  in  operation,  under  which  corporations,  for  a  va 
riety  of  purposes  might  be  created,  without  the  direct 
intervention  of  the  legislature.     The  Attorney  General 
says,  "  the  several  laws  providing  for  the  creation  of  cor 
porate  bodies,  without  a  special  grant  from  the  legisla 
ture,  have  been  acted  upon  for  the  twelve  years  which 
have  elapsed  since  this  part  of  the   Constitution  went 
into  operation,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  validity   of 
those  laws,  or  the  right  to  form  associations  under  them, 
has  never  been  seriously  questioned."     If  those  laws  are 
valid,  which  we  do  not  doubt,  it  is  because  they  are  not 
repugnant  to  the  Constitution.     But  it  seems,   by  the 
Attorney  General's  reasoning,  that  a  law  now  passed, 
though  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  and  for  precisely  the  same 
objects,  and  expressed  in  the  same  terms,  would  be  re 
pugnant  to  the  Constitution.     That  is  to  say,  a  principle 
which  was  perfectly  consistent  with  the  Constitution  in 
1828,  is  totally  contrary  to  it  in  1834.     For  example,  if 
the  legislature,  at  its  present  session,  should  repeal  one  of 
those  laws  under  which  corporations  may  now  be  formed 
without  a  direct  act,  and  the  next  legislature,  convinced 
that  the  law  had  been  useful,  and  that  the  repeal  of  it  was 
unwise,  should  repass  it  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each 
House,  it  would  not  be  valid,  because  it  would  be  repug 
nant  to  the  Constitution.     It  had  been  quite  constitu 
tional  a  year  before,  but  though  the  Constitution  in  the 
meanwhile  had  undergone  no  change,  and  the  law  was 
revived  in  precisely  the  same  words  as  before,  it  would 
be  wholly  null  and  void.     We  confess  we  cannot  give 
our  judgment  up  to  such  reasoning  as  this. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  189 

The  general  laws  under  which  corporations  were  form 
ed  without  special  legislation  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  were  abrogated  by  that  instrument,  if  they 
were  repugnant  to  any  of  its  provisions  ;  and  if  they  were 
not  repugnant  to  any  of  its  provisions,  neither  would  a 
law  at  this  day  be,  framed  on  the  same  principles  and  in 
corresponding  terms.  The  Constitution  makes  a  vote  of 
two-thirds  necessary  to  create  any  body  politic,  that  is 
any  one  body  politic,  on  the  ground  that  partial  legislation, 
giving  special  privileges  to  particular  individuals,  par- 
takes  of  the  character  of  monopoly  ;  but  it  does  not  even 
make  a  two-thirds  vote  necessary  to  pass  a  law,  general 
in  its  provisions,  and  calculated  for  the  equal  good  of 
the  whole  community.  A  general  law  of  joint-stock 
partnerships  would  not  be  a  law  "  creating  a  body  poli 
tic."  But  when  A,  B,  and  C,  wish  to  be  erected  into  a 
corporation,  and  have  particular  privileges  conferred  up. 
on  them,  the  legislature  are  hindered  by  the  constitution 
from  granting  their  prayer,  unless  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  number  elected  think  it  worthy  of  their  assent. 

If  we  "  enter  into  the  mind  and  intention  of  those  who 
framed  the  instrument,"  we  shall  find  that  this  condition 
of  the  assent  of  two-thirds  was  stipulated  for  the  express 
purpose  of  preventing  special  acts  of  incorporation  from 
being  passed,  except  where  the  reasons  for  them  were 
very  cogent.  If  we  then  examine  the  acts  of  the  very 
first  session  of  the  legislature  after  the  Constitution  went 
into  effect,  we  shall  find  that  so  ineffectual  was  this  pro- 
vision  for  the  purpose  intended,  that  there  were  thirty- 
nine  new  private  companies  incorporated,  and  numerous 
acts  passed  amending  and  enlarging  previous  charters. 
But  while  this  two-thirds  check  (which  proved  in  effect 
to  be  no  check  at  all)  was  established  for  the  reason  that 
"  the  multiplication  of  corporations  was  an  evil,"  and 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Convention  «  not  to  increase 


190  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OP 

them  but  diminish  them,"  no  step  was  taken  to  limit  the 
number  of  voluntary  corporations  which  the  spirit  of  en. 
terprise  and  competition  might  cause  to  spring  into  ex 
istence  under  the  general  laws.  The  reason  was,  no 
doubt,  that  these  were  not  considered  an  evil.  A  grant 
of  special  privileges  to  a  particular  set  of  men  was  consi 
dered  an  "abhorred  monopoly;"  but  a  general  law  of 
joint-stock  partnerships,  for  the  mere  facilitation  of  cer 
tain  pursuits,  of  which  all  men  alike  might  avail  them 
selves,  was  not  a  monopoly.  Those  who  "enter  into 
the  mind  and  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu 
tion,"  will  arrive,  we  think,  at  a  very  different  conclu 
sion  from  that  of  the  Attorney  General.  It  would  be  a 
singular  circumstance,  truly,  if  the  Convention  had  fast 
ened,  eternally  and  irremediably,  a  most  odious  and  op 
pressive  system  of  monopolies  on  the  free  people  of  this 
state,  by  the  very  provision  which  they  framed  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  diminishing  these  monopolies  as  far  as 
they  could  consistently  with  the  preservation  of  vested 
rights. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  191 


THE  JOINT-STOCK  PARTNERSHIP  LAW. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  January  26, 1835.] 
THERE  was  one  point  in  our  argument,  on  Saturday, 
in  relation  to  the  Constitutional  power  of  the  legislature 
to  pass  a  general  joint-stock  partnership  law  which  we 
wish  to  modify  ;  namely,  that  it  is  competent  for  the 
legislature  to  pass  such  a  law  without  the  concurrence  of 
two-thirds  of  the  members  elected  to  each  branch.  This 
slipped  from  us  inadvertently,  and  in  positive,  instead  of 
hypothetic  language.  More  mature  deliberation  has 
satisfied  us  that  a  vote  of  two-thirds  would  be  requisite  to 
pass  either  a  general  or  partial  law. 

The  great  object  of  the  section  in  the  Constitution,  in- 
deed,  was  very  evidently  to  establish  the  necessity  of  the 
concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  elected  on  the 
subject  of  corporations.  It  was  not  to  change  the  pre 
vious  practise  in  any  other  respect  than  as  regards  the 
extent  of  the  majority.  It  was  to  secure  upright  and 
deliberate  legislation  ;  to  diminish  the  chances  of  corrup 
tion  ;  to  throw  a  strong  impediment  in  the  way  of  the 
log-rolling  system. 

If  the  language  of  the  Constitution  required  the  assent 
of  two-thirds  of  the  legislature  for  every  bill  creating  any 
body,  or  bodies,  politic  or  corporate,  we  fancy  that  the 
competency  of  the  legislature  to  pass  a  general  law,  de 
fining  the  principles  and  establishing  the  conditions  on 
which  bodies  politic  or  corporate  might  be  formed,  could 
not  for  a  moment  be  doubted.  Yet  the  Attorney  General 
admits  that  the  present  phraseology,  though  in  the  singu 
lar  number,  presents  no  bar  to  the  creation  of  a  plurality 
of  corporations  by  one  legislative  act.  He  admits  that 
the  legislature  may  incorporate  any  number  of  associa 
tions,  even  to  the  extent  of  including  the  whole  popula- 


192  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

tion  of  the  State,  by  a  single  bill.  It  seems  to  us  that 
this  admission  gives  up  the  whole  question.  If  "  every 
bill  creating  any  body  politic,"  is  equivalent  to  "  every 
bill  creating  any  number  of  bodies  politic,"  it  may  surely 
also  mean  4<  every  bill  defining  the  terms  on  which  any 
association  of  men  may  possess  themselves  of  corporate 
powers." 

If  the  legislature  is  not  required  to  act  separately  on 
every  single  question  of  creating  a  body  politic,  but  may 
by  one  vote,  provided  it  has  the  requisite  majority,  cre 
ate  a  million  of  bodies  politic,  it  is  not  easy  to  perceive 
how  the  powers  of  the  legislature  on  the  subject  of 
granting  corporate  privileges  are  at  all  modified  or  re- 
strained  by  the  present  Constitution,  except  simply  as  to 
what  shall  constitute  a  valid  majority  on  such  questions. 
Indeed,  the  Attorney  General  seems  so  naturally  to  have 
come  to  this  conclusion,  that  he  expresses  it  in  so  many 
words.  He  says,  the  Constitution  only  prescribes  the 
number  of  votes  necessary  to  every  bill,  "  leaving  all 
other  questions  about  the  passing  of  such  laws  as  they 
stood  before,  to  the  discretion  of  the  legislature."  The 
legislature  have  a  right  now  to  pass  any  law  whatever 
respecting  corporations  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the 
members,  which  it  before  had  by  a  simple  majority  of 
the  members  present.  Whenever  we  have  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  the  Constitutional  requirement  is  complied  with  ; 
and  if  a  general  law  of  joint-stock  partnerships  is  objec 
tionable,  it  is  on  grounds  distinct  from  those  presented  by 
the  language  of  the  ninth  section  of  the  seventh  article 
of  the  Constitution. 

That  objections  of  this  kind  existed  in  the  Attorney 
General's  mind  is  plainly  to  be  inferred  from  some  of  his 
remarks.  Thus  he  argues  that  if  the  legislature  can 
provide  by  general  laws  for  the  incorporation  of  such 
persons  as  shall  associate  for  any  particular  purpose, 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  193 

though  "  both  useful  and  harmless,"  "  it  can,  in  like  man- 
ner  provide  for  the  incorporation  of  such  persons  as  may 
associate  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  business  of 
banking,  insurance,  or  receiving  and  executing  trusts." 
This,  we  apprehend,  is  the  grand  difficulty.  A  general 
law  of  joint-stock  partnerships  would  do  away  with  all 
necessity  or  excuse  for  interested  applicants  assembling 
at  Albany  every  winter  to  use  that  peculiar  species  of 
argument  with  legislators  and  "  leading  party  men"  in 
favour  of  their  schemes,  which  it  is  notorious  has  hereto 
fore  been  used  to  a  prodigious  extent,  and  which,  with 
very  many  men,  constitutes  the  main  ground  of  their 
desire  to  get  into  the  legislature. 

The  Attorney  General  devotes  a  portion  of  his  report 
to  a  eulogy  on  corporations,  and  repeats  the  old  cant 
about  their  furnishing  "  the  best  means  for  aggregating 
the  necessary  amount  of  capital  for  the  rapid  and  full 
development  tf  the  resources  of  the  State."  If  this  rapid 
development  is  really  so  desirable  an  object,  is  it  more 
likely  to  take  place  through  the  agency  of  special  corpo 
rations,  or  through  the  means  of  a  law  which  opens  the 
the  field  of  competition  to  the  whole  community  ?  But 
the  Attorney  General  admits  that  "  there  is  an  admixture 
of  evil  in  almost  every  grant  of  corporate  privileges." 
And  what  is  this  admixture  of  evil  ?  It  is,  chiefly,  that, 
under  the  present  system  of  granting  charters,  they  par- 
take  of  the  character  of  monopoly — they  confer  powers 
on  a  few  privileged  individuals  which  are  taken,  or  at  any 
rate  withheld,  from  the  great  body  of  the  people.  Create 
a  general  law,  under  which  any  set  of  men  may  form 
themselves  into  a  body  corporate,  and  you  at  once  take 
from  such  associations  the  chief  admixture  of  evil. 

The  Attorney  General  admits,  that,  on  the  subject  of 
Colleges  the  legislature  has  not  acted  upon  his  doctrine, 
and  that  the  Revisers  do  not  seem  even  to  have  dreamt. 
VOL.  I — 17 


194  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

of  his  construction.  With  all  deference  to  the  Attorney 
General,  the  Revisers  are  much  higher  legal  authority 
than  he  can  with  any  sort  of  propriety  claim  to  be.  But 
let  us  try  his  views  on  their  own  merits,  and  to  do  so,  we 
may  test  the  applicability  of  his  rule  to  other  subjects. 
Abundant  opportunities  of  testing  its  soundness  in  this 
way  are  presented  by  the  Constitution.  The  very  sec- 
tion  under  consideration  requires  the  assent  of  two-thirds 
of  the  legislature  "  to  every  bill  appropriating  the  public 
moneys  or  property  for  local  or  private  purposes.''  Now, 
what  is  more  common  than,  after  deciding  on  the  whole 
principle  of  an  appropriation,  to  refer  the  matter  to  Com- 
missioners,  to  the  Comptroller,  or  to  some  other  public 
officer,  to  expend  and  apply  the  money  in  a  certain  man- 
ner,  to  take  bonds  for  its  payment,  and  even  proofs  of  its 
amount.  We  do  not  say  that  such  legislation  is  not  some, 
times  improper,  but  we  apprehend  it  will  hardly  be  called 
unconstitutional.  Laws  making  appropriations  for  pri 
vate  purposes,  on  general  principles,  necessarily  leave 
something  to  the  discretion  of  the  Commissioners  to 
whom  the  carrying  those  laws  into  effect  is  entrusted ; 
but  in  the  case  of  a  law  fixing  the  principles  and  condi 
tions  on  which  any  set  of  individuals  might  become  a 
body  politic,  nothing  need  be  left  to  discretion.  Under 
such  a  law,  individuals  give  notification  of  their  intention 
in  a  certain  specified  way,  file  certain  papers  with  a  spe 
cified  officer,  and  straightway  they  become  a  corporate 
partnership.  The  legislature  has  the  undoubted  power 
to  create  those  individuals  a  body  politic  absolutely  and 
unqualifiedly.  It  is  apprehended  that  those  who  have  the 
power  to  do  any  thing  absolutely  and  unqualifiedly,  have 
the  power  to  do  it  on  conditions.  The  greater  power 
includes  the  less,  or  if  the  Attorney  General  pleases,  a 
power  to  sell  includes  a  power  to  mortgage. 

If  this  doctrine  is  unsound — if  the  views  of  the  Attor- 


WILLIAM       LEGGETT.  195 

\ 

»ey  General  are  right  throughout,  then  that  officer  has 
the  merit  of  abrogating,  by  a  single  exercise  of  his  pen, 
the  corporate  powers,  not  only  of  all  the  colleges  and 
academies  which  have  gone  into  exercise  under  the  Re 
vised  Statutes,  but  also  nearly  all  our  banks  and  other 
moneyed  corporations,  for  their  charters  have  been  gener 
ally  granted  on  certain  conditions  relative  to  opening 
their  books,  distributing  the  stock,  paying  in  the  capital, 
and  filing  an  affidavit  that  the  capital  had  been  paid  in. 
The  appointment  of  Commissioners  may  very  well  come 
within  the  Attorney  General's  rules,  which  prohibit  the 
legislature  from  delegating  any  discretionary  power. 

The  Attorney  General,  in  attempting  to  break  down 
our  anti-monopoly  doctrines,  may  get  into  more  difficulty 
than  he  seems  to  be  aware  of.     His  arguments  against  a 
general  law  of  joint-stock  partnerships,  on  the  ground  that 
such  a  law  would  be  a  delegation  of  power  to  others  to 
do  what  the  Constitution  requires  should  be  done  directly 
by  the  legislature,  and  by  a  two- thirds  vote,  bear  with 
greater  force  against  the  system  he  applauds  than  that 
which  he  condemns.     He  says,  in  effect,  chartered  pri 
vileges  must  be  distributed  by  the  legislature  itself  to  a 
favoured  few,  and  cannot  be  granted  to  all  by  a  general 
law,  because  the  legislature  cannot  delegate   its  power. 
But  at   the  same  time  the  legislature   does  delegate  its 
power,  in  every  charter  of  incorporation  it  passes,  to  dis 
tribute  the  stock  among  such  favoured  individuals  as 
certain  Commissioners  may  select,  and  the  power  delegat 
ed  is  rendered  great  by  reason   of  these  legislative  fa 
vours  being  withheld  from  the  great  body  of  the  people. 
These  inconsistencies  will  not  tend  to  convince  the  peo 
ple  that   a  general  joint-stock  partnership  law   is   not 
needed,  though  it  may  satisfy  them  that  there  is  some 
occasion  for  a  better  expounder  of  the  laws  already  in 
existence. 


196  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

REPLY  TO  THE  CHARGE  OF  LUNACY. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  Jan.  30, 1835.] 
THE  Bank  tory  presses  originated  the  imputation  of 
lunacy  against  the  conductors  of  this  journal,  and  the 
echoes  of  the  Albany  Argus  have  caught  up  the  cry,  and 
rung  the  changes  upon  it,  until  very  possibly  many  of 
their  readers,  who  do  not  read  the  Evening  Post,  may 
suppose  it  has  some  foundation  in  truth.    One  good-natur 
ed  editor  in  Connecticut,  we  perceive,  has  taken  the  matter 
up  quite  seriously  in   our   defence,  and   seeks  to  prove 
that  we  are  not  crazy  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  but 
only  partially  crazy,  or  suffering  under  a  species  of  mo 
nomania  on  the  subject  of  monopolies.    We  are  infinitely 
obliged  to  our  benevolent  defender,  and  in  return  for  his 
courtesy  beg  leave  to  assure  him,  that  if  our  views  on  the 
subject  of  banks  and  corporations  are  evidence  of  the 
malady  he  imputes  to  us  the  disease  is  endemic  in  this 
state,  and  not  even  Governor  Marcy's  proposed  magnifi 
cent  lunatic  asylum  would  be  capable  of  containing  one 
hundredth  part  of  the  monomaniacs  who  now  go  at  large, 
and  are  generally  supposed  to  be  in  the  full  enjoyment  of 
their  senses. 

The  charge  of  lunacy  against  an  antagonist  whose 
arguments  are  not  refutable  is  neither  a  very  new 
nor  very  ingenious  device.  Its  novelty  is  on  a  par  with 
its  candour.  It  is  a  short  and  wholesale  method  of 
answering  facts  and  reasonings,  of  which  weak  and  per 
verted  minds  have  ever  been  ready  to  avail  themselves, 
and  it  has  ever  been  especially  resorted  to  against  such 
as  have  had  the  boldness  to  stand  forward  as  the  asserters 
of  the  principles  of  political  and  religious  liberty.  Those 
who  are  unable  to  refute  your  arguments,  can  at  least 
sneer  at  their  author  ;  and  next  to  overthrowing  an  anta. 
gonist's  doctrines,  it  is  considered  by  many  a  desirable 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  197 

achievement  to  raise  a  laugh  against  himself.  To  be 
laughed  at  by  the  aristocracy,  however,  (and  there  are  too 
many  aristocrats  who,  to  answer  selfish  purposes,  rank 
themselves  with  the  democracy)  is  the  inevitable  fate  of 
all  who  earnestly  strive  to  carry  into  full  practical  opera 
tion  the  great  principle  of  equal  political,  civil,  and  reli 
gious  rights.  To  escape  "the  fool's  dread  laugh,"  is 
therefore  not  to  be  desired  by  those  who  are  ardent  and 
determined  in  the  cause  of  true  democratic  principles. 
Such  derision  they  will  consider  rather  as  evidence  of  the 
soundness  of  their  views,  and  will  be  inclined  to  say  with 
John  Wesley,  "  God  forbid  that  we  should  not  be  the 
laughing-stock  of  mankind  !" 

But  we  put  it  to  every  reader  seriously,  whether,  in  all 
they  have  seen  against  the  doctrines  maintained  by  this 
paper  on  the  subject  of  banks  and  corporations,  they  have 
yet  found  one  single  argument  addressed  to  men's  rea 
sons,  and  tending  to  show  that  our  views  are  wrong. 
They  have  read,  doubtless,  a  deal  of  declamation  about 
our  ultraism  and  our  Jacobinism  ;  they  have  seen  us  call 
ed  a  Utopian,  a  disciple  of  Fanny  Wright,  an  agrarian,  a 
lunatic,  and  a  dozen  other  hard  names.  They  have  seen 
it  asserted  that  we  are  for  overthrowing  all  the  cherished 
institutions  of  society  ;  for  breaking  down  the  foundations 
of  private  right,  sundering  the  marriage  tie,  and  estab 
lishing  "  a  community  of  men,  women,  and  property." 
But  amidst  all  this  declamation — amidst  all  these  ground 
less  and  heinous  charges,  have  they  yet  found  one  editor 
who  had  the  candour  fairly  to  state  our  views,  and  meet 
them  with  calm  and  temperate  argument  ?  If  they  have 
found  such  a  one,  they  have  been  more  fortunate  than  we. 

While  the  principles  which  we  maintain  are  subject  to 

such  constant  and  wilful  misrepresentations,  it  may  not  be 

without  use  frequently  to  repeat,  in  a  brief  form,  the  real 

objects  for  which  we  contend.     All  our  agrarian,  Utopian 

17* 


198  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OP 

and  anarchical  views,  then,  are  comprehended  in  the  fol 
lowing  statement  of  the  ends  at  which  we  aim. 

First,  with  regard  to  corporations  generally  :  we  con- 
tend  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  legislature,  in  accordance 
with  the  principle  of  equal  rights,  on  which  this  govern 
ment  is  founded,  to  refrain,  in  all  time  to  come,  from 
granting  any  special  or  exclusive  charters  of  incorpora 
tion  to  any  set  of  men,  or  for  any  purpose  whatever ;  but 
instead,  to  pass  one  general  law,  which  will  allow  any  set 
of  men,  who  choose  to  associate  together  for  any  purpose, 
(banking  alone  temporarily  excepted,)  to  form  themselves 
into  that  convenient  kind  of  partnership  known  by  the 
name  of  corporation. 

Second,  with  regard  to  banking  :  we  contend  that 
suitable  steps  should  be  immediately  taken  by  the  legis 
lature  to  place  that  branch  of  business  on  the  same  broad 
and  equal  basis  :  that  to  this  end,  no  more  banks  should 
be  created  or  renewed;  that  existing  banks  should  be 
gradually  curtailed  of  their  privilege  to  issue  small  notes, 
until  no  bank  notes  of  a  smaller  denomination  than  twenty 
dollars  should  be  in  circulation  ;  and  that  then  the  re- 
straining  law  should  be  repealed,  and  the  community  left 
as  free  to  pursue  the  business  of  banking,  as  they  now 
are  to  pursue  any  business  whatever. 

We  are  not  in  favour  of  pulling  down,  or  overthrowing, 
or  harming,  in  any-  way,  any  existing  institutions.  Let 
them  all  live  out  their  charters,  if  they  do  nothing  in  the 
meanwhile  to  forfeit  them  ;  and  as  those  charters  should 
expire,  the  very  same  stockholders  might,  if  they  chose, 
associate  themselves  together  in  a  voluntary  corporation, 
under  the  proposed  general  law,  and  pursue  their  business 
without  interruption,  and  without  let  or  hinderance. 

The  grand  principle  which  we  aim  to  establish  is  the 
principle  of  equal  rights.  The  only  material  difference 
between  the  present  system,  and  the  system  we  propose, 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  199 

is  that  instead  of  exclusive  privileges,  or  particular  facil 
ities  and  immunities,  being  dealt  out  to  particular  sets  of 
individuals  by  the  legislature,  all  kinds  of  business  would 
be  thrown  open  to  free  and  full  competition,  and  all  classes 
and  conditions  of  men  would  have  restored  to  them  those 
equal  rights  which  the  system  of  granting  special  char 
ters  of  incorporation  has  been  the  means  of  filching  from 
them. 

All  our  Utopianism,  Jacobinism,  Agrarianism,  Fanny 
Wright-ism,  Jack  Cade-ism  ;  and  a  dozen  other  isms  im 
puted  to  us,  have  this  extent,  no  more.  It  would  argue 
that  there  was  something  very  rotten  in  the  democracy 
of  the  present  day,  if  for  entertaining  and  strenuously 
asserting  such  views,  the  conductors  of  a  public  journal, 
whose  business  and  pride  it  is  to  maintain  democratic 
principles,  should  be  generally  supposed  to  labour  under 
mental  derangement.  If  this  is  lunacy,  it  is  at  all  events 
such  lunacy  as  passed  for  sound  and  excellent  sense  in 
Thomas  Jefferson.  The  sum  of  a  good  government,  as 
described  by  that  illustrious  champion  of  democracy,  is  all 
we  aim  at — "  a  wise  and  frugal  government,  which  shall 
restrain  men  from  injuring  one  another ;  shall  leave  them 
otherwise  free  to  regulate  their  own  pursuits  of  industry 
and  improvement ;  and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of 
labour  the  bread  it  has  earned." 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  February  3, 1835.] 
IT  is  a  good  old  republican  custom,  sometimes,  nay 
often,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  conduct  of 
the  different  branches  of  their  Government,  legislative,  as 
well  as  executive  and  judicial.  The  people,  whose  pro 
vince  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  stand  sentinel  over  their 


200  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

rights,  and  over  that  Constitution  which  was  devised  sole 
ly  for  their  security,  should  never  sleep  on  their  posts,  for 
the  encroachments  of  power  are  like  the  pestilence,  that 
walketh  in  darkness,  and  no  one  can  tell  when  they  will 
come. 

The  present  organization  and  late  course  of  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  are,  in  our  opinion,  serious  subjects 
for  the  deep  consideration  of  all  who  value  the  represen 
tative  principle  in  its  purity,  or  who  look  to  the  true  spi 
rit  of  the  Constitution.  A  majority  of  the  states  and 
the  people  is  represented  by  a  minority  of  that  body ,  the 
majority  of  which  is  acting  in  defiance  of  both.  This 
majority  is  enabled  to  carry  its  measures  by  the  aid  alone 
of  those  members  who  are  acting  entirely  independent 
of  any  other  impulse  than  that  of  their  own  sovereign  will. 
While  these  Senators  are  pretending  to  stickle  for  the 
rights  of  the  states,  they  are  setting  at  naught  the  au 
thority  of  those  very  states,  and  in  the  language  of  Mr. 
Madison,  instead  of  «  giving  to  the  State  Governments 
such  an  agency  in  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Govern, 
ment  as  must  secure  the  authority  of  the  former,"  are  de 
priving  them  of  all  agency  whatever,  except  that  which 
is  directly  contrary  to  their  instructions. 

This  bold  defiance  of  the  public  will,  it  is  believed,  is 
stimulated  and  sustained  by  the  influence  of  a  combina 
tion  of  political  enemies,  who,  while  they  differ,  in  their 
fundamental  principles,  agree  in  one  point,  that  of  oppos 
ing  the  public  voice  and  thwarting  the  wishes  of  the  peo 
ple.  Living  upon  the  reputation  acquired  by  former  servi 
ces  and  trading  on  a  stock  of  integrity  long  since  exhaust 
ed,  these  distinguished  men,  for  distinguished  they  certain 
ly  are  by  political  arts,  if  not  by  political  wisdom, 
despairing  it  would  seem  of  rising  to  the  summit  of  their 
ambition  on  the  billows  of  popular  applause,  are  determi 
ned  to  revenge  their  disappointment  by  opposing  the  pub. 
lie  will.  Certain  little  men  around  them,  seduced  by 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  201 

their  example,  or  probably  deluded  by  their  eloquence, 
have  caught  the  contagion  of  disobedience,  and  masking 
their  personal  insignificance  behind  the  shield  of  sturdy 
independence,  crow  defiance  in  the  teeth  of  their  consti 
tuents  with  all  the  arrogance  of  ill-founded  self-sufficien 
cy.  They  neither,  forsooth,  represent  the  states  nor  the 
people;  they  represent  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  like  watchful  guardians,  prey  upon  the  trea 
sure  they  affect  to  guard. 

Under  the  scattered  banner  of  these  independent  politi 
cians,  who  trade  on  their  own  bottom,  the  majority  of  the 
Senate  so  constituted  as  we  have  stated,  is  gradually  tak 
ing  the  lead  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  peculiar 
guardian  of  the  people.  Not  content  with  assuming  the 
right  of  impeachment,  which  is  exclusively  the  constitu 
tional  prerogative  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  has 
constituted  itself  the  grand  inquest  of  the  nation,  which  it 
no  longer  represents.  It  delegates  its  authority  to  itine 
rant  committees,. which  travel  about  during  the  recess  of 
the  Senate  taking  ex  parte  testimony  against  public  and 
private  individuals.  It  forestalls  the  action  of  the  House 
of  the  people,  the  proper  organ  of  the  popular  will,  and 
contrary  to  established  custom  as  well  as  obvious  pro 
priety,  takes  the  lead  in  all  those  great  national  ques 
tions  which  it  was  evidently  the  design  of  the  Constitu 
tion  should  be  first  proposed  and  decided  in  that  body 
which  most  immediately  emanates  from  the  sovereign  pow 
er.  There  might  be  sufficient  grounds  of  justification  for 
the  majority  of  the  Senate  representing  a  minority  of  the 
states,  were  they  to  confine  themselves  to  assuming  the 
lead  in  questions  purely  constitutional.  But  they  have 
widely  overstepped  the  bounds  of  this,  their  peculiar  pro 
vince,  and  every  day  exhibit  an  unseemly  ambition  to  go 
foremost  in  very  thing.  The  Constitution,  for  example, 
says  that  «  all  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in 


202  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

the  House  of  Representatives."  This  provision  is  m 
strict  accordance  with  the  first  and  best  principles  of  lib 
erty.  It  constitutes  one  of  the  great  safeguards  against 
the  encroachments  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  less  popu 
lar  branches  of  government,  because  it  leaves  it  entirely 
to  the  immediate  and  peculiar  representatives  of  the  peo 
ple  to  withhold  appropriations  for  all  purposes  of  which 
they  do  not  approve.  They  are  the  proper  guardians  of 
the  money  of  the  people,  and,  being  possessed  of  the  ex 
clusive  right  of  originating  revenue  bills,  can,  as  they 
ought  to  do,  entirely  control  the  ambition  or  prodigality 
of  the  other  branches  of  Government. 

The  reasons  which  govern  in  the  case  of  raising,  apply 
to  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money,  or  the  voting  of 
any  moneys  whatever,  either  out  of  the  existing  public 
funds  or  in  anticipation  of  them.  The  vote  for  raising  a 
revenue,  and  that  for  expending  it,  either  before  or  after  it 
is  raised,  seem  so  analagous  in  their  application  to  the 
principles  just  laid  down,  that  it  appears  difficult  to  sepa 
rate  them.  Both  should  originate  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  be  sanctioned  by  it,  before  being  taken  up 
by  the  Senate,  whose  example  and  influence  operating  on 
the  former,  might  improperly  control  its  action,  and 
cause  it  to  lose  sight  of  its  responsibility  to  the  people. 
In  one  word,  we  doubt  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  vote 
any  appropriation  of  the  people's  money,  except  it  be 
first  sanctioned  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  Senate  has  consumed  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  present  session  in  debating  a  bill  for  the  appropria 
tion  of  five  millions  of  the  public  money,  to  be  raised 
from  the  people,  for  the  payment  of  certain  unliquidated 
demands  on  the  French  Government.  The  question  of 
national  obligation  to  pay  this  money  is  of  no  conse 
quence  to  this  argument,  and  therefore  we  pass  it  by. 
We  would  only  ask  whether  a  bill  to  pay  money,  which, 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  203 

if  paid  at  all,  must  be  raised  by  a  revenue  bill,  is  not,  if 
not  a  revenue  bill,  at  least  its  legitimate  father  ?  So  far 
as  the  sanction  of  the  Senate  goes,  it  is  an  application  of 
the  public  money  which  can  be  raised  in  no  other  way 
than  by  a  revenue  bill.  It  seems  to  us  that  if  the  Senate 
can  originate  the  one,  they  can  the  other  with  quite  as 
much  reason.  The  principle  is  much  the  same,  and 
there  is  strong  ground  for  believing  that  the  spirit,  if  not 
the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  includes  both  the  raising 
and  the  expenditure  of  the  public  revenues. 

What  would  be  the  use  of  this  provision  otherwise  ? 
Had  it  been  entirely  omitted  in  the  Constitution,  the 
Senate  could  no  more  have  raised  a  revenue  without  the 
assent  of  the  other  House  than  it  can  now.  The  object 
was,  that  as  the  people  pay  the  revenue,  their  immediate 
representatives,  acting  it  is  to  be  presumed  in  conformity 
with  their  will,  should  have  the  first  say  in  the  business. 
It  was  to  secure  to  the  people,  as  far  as  possible,  a  direct 
controul  over  the  expenditures  of  the  government,  by  giv 
ing  them  a  right  of  first  deciding  on  their  propriety  or 
necessity.  Do  not  precisely  the  same  reasons  apply  to 
the  assumption  of  the  Senate  to  appropriate  five  millions 
of  the  money  of  the  people,  which  can  only  be  provided 
for  by  a  revenue  bill  1  Has  the  voice  of  the  people,  or  of 
their  representatives  been  heard,  or  their  opinions  ascer 
tained  through  the  medium  of  their  appropriate  organs  ? 
Certainly  not.  Yet  the  bill  is  jogging  on  in  the  march 
of  wild  legislation,  and  so  far  as  the  decision  of  the  Senate 
can  be  anticipated,  and  so  far  as  that  decision  is  to  go,  the 
people  are^to  be  saddled  with  five  millions  of  debt  at  the  pre 
sent  time  besides  ten  times  that  sum  in  future,  by  a  bill  ori 
ginating  in  the  Senate,  which,  though  not  a  revenue  bill, 
involves  the  direct  necessity  of"  raising  a  revenue  !" 

We  have  no  idea  that  any  thing  we  or  the  people  may 
say  on  this  or  any  other  encroachment  of  the  Senate,  will 


204  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

have  any  influence  on  the  majority  of  these  lordly  contem- 
ners  of  the  popular  will.  Under  pretence  of  vindicating  the 
Constitution,  they  may  violate  its  letter  and  spirit  at 
pleasure,  and  during  six  years  at  least,  enjoy  the  enviable 
satisfaction  of  «  defending  the  people  from  their  own 
worst  enemies,  themselves."  Still  there  may  be  some 
little  use  in  agitating  the  subject  of  senatorial  assumption 
we  will  not  call  them  by  so  harsh  a  name  as  usurpa 
tions—if  it  be  only  that  of  awakening  the  sleeping  dig 
nity  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to  a  recollection  of 
its  ancient  precedence  in  all  money  matters  at  least. 
We  take  it  that  this  is  a  popular  government,  and  that 
all  questions  in  which  the  people  are  deeply  and  exten 
sively  interested,  and  most  especially  all  those  involv 
ing  expenditures  of  money,  should  be  first  passed  upon  by 
those  most  likely  to  feel  and  obey  the  impulse  of  the  pop 
ular  will. 


GOVERNOR  McDUFFIE'S  MESSAGE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  February  10, 1835.] 
GOVERNOR  McDurriE,  in  his  late  message  to  the  Le 
gislature  of  South  Carolina,  has  promulgated  various  er 
rors  in  relation  to  the  views  and  principles  of  the  demo 
cracy  of  the  middle  and  northern  states,  which  might 
excite  astonishment  at  his  ignorance,  or  regret  at  his 
insincerity,  did  we  not  know  that  they  are  founded  on 
the  misrepresentations  of  the  Bank  tory  organs  of  this 
part  of  the  world.  Great  pains  have  been  taken  by 
these  to  persuade  the  people  of  the  south,  that  all  the 
violent  anathemas  uttered  against  the  system  of  slavery, 
by  enthusiasts  and  fanatics  in  this  quarter,  and  all  their 
dangerous  zeal  for  immediate  emancipation,  originate 
with  the  democracy.  The  charge  of  agrarianism,  also, 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  205 

which  has  with  such  marvellous  propriety  been  urged 
against  this  journal,  because  it  supports  the  doctrine,  not 
of  an  equalization  of  property,  which  is  an  impracticable 
absurdity,  but  because  it  maintains  the  principle  of  equal 
political  rights,  seems  to  have  excited  the  sensitive  ap 
prehensions  of  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and 
prompted  him  to  the  utterance  of  sentiments  which  we 
are  sorry  to  see  avowed  on  such  a  public  and  grave  oc 
casion,  as  that  of  addressing  the  legislature  in  his  official 
capacity. 

We  must  beg  leave  to  set  Governor  McDuffie  right 
on  these  points.  In  the  first  place,  what  is  called  agrari- 
anism  by  the  Bank  tory  presses  is  nothing  more  than  the 
great  principle  which  has  always  been  maintained  with 
peculiar  earnestness  by  the  southern  states,  and  most  es 
pecially  by  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  It  is  simply  an 
opposition  to  all  partial  and  exclusive  legislation,  which 
gives  to  one  profession,  one  class  of  industry,  one  section 
of  the  Union,  or  one  portion  of  the  people,  privileges  and 
advantages  denied  to  the  others,  or  of  which,  from  the 
nature  of  their  situation  and  circumstances,  they  cannot 
partake.  It  is  opposition  to  bounties,  protections,  incor 
porations,  and  perpetuities  of  all  kinds,  under  whatever 
mask  they  may  present  themselves.  It  is  neither  more 
nor  less  in  short,  than  a  denial  of  the  legislative  authority 
to  grant  any  partial  or  exclusive  privileges  under  pre 
tence  of  the  "  general  welfare,"  the  "  wants  of  the  com 
munity,"  "  sound  policy,"  "sound  action,"  "developing 
the  resources  and  stimulating  the  industry  of  the  com 
munity,"  or  any  other  undefinable  pretence,  resorted  to 
as  a  subterfuge  by  avarice  and  ambition.  This  is  what 
the  whig  papers,  as  they  style  themselves,  hold  up  to  the 
South  as  a  dngerous  doctrine,  calculated  to  unsettle  the 
whole  system  of  social  organization,  and  subject  the  rights 

VOL.  I.—18 


0 
206  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

of  property  to  the  arbitrary  violence  of  a  hungry  and  ra 
pacious  populace  ! 

We  would  ask  Governor  McDuffie  if  this  is  not,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  the  doctrine  of  those  who  main- 
tained  the  independent  authority  of  the  states,  in  all 
points  where  it  was  not  voluntarily  and  specifically  sur 
rendered  to  the  Federal  Government  ?  Did  they  not 
repudiate  and  deny  the  power  of  that  government  to 
grant  charters  of  incorporation  1  And  when  the  Conven 
tion  which  formed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
rejected  the  plan  of  a  national  or  consolidated  govern 
ment,  was  it  not  mainly  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
place  the  states,  and  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  people 
of  the  states,  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  a  power,  which 
might,  if  it  pleased,  under  the  specious  pretext  of  the 
"  public  welfare,"  sacrifice  the  interests  of  one  state,  or 
one  section,  to  those  of  another,  and  thus  introduce  a 
system  of  partial  and  exclusive  legislation  ?  If  such  a 
system,  adopted  by  the  Federal  Government,  would  be 
injurious  to  the  rights  of  the  states  ;  so  is  it  now  when 
adopted  by  a  state  legislature  towards  the  people  of  a  state 
just  as  injurious  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  great 
majority,  because  it  is  the  very  essence  of  such  privileges, 
that,  to  be  worth  having,  they  must  of  necessity  be  con 
fined  to  a  small  minority.  Governor  McDuffie  cries 
out  against  the  oppressions  inflicted  on  a  minority  of  the 
states,  by  a  partial  system  of  federal  legislation,  and  the 
democracy  of  the  north  exclaim  against  a  similar  system 
adopted  by  our  own  legislatures  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
rights  of  a  majority  of  the  people.  Which  has  the  broad 
est  ground  of  action,  he  who  maintains  the  rights  of  the 
few  or  he  who  maintains  the  rights  of  the  many,  in  a 
government  the  first  principle  of  which  is,  that  within  the 
limits  of  the  Constitution,  the  majority  of  the  poeple 
must  and  ought  to  govern  ? 


> 

WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  207 

Governor  McDuffie  is  still  more  misled  in  his  ideas  of 
the  part  taken  by  the  democracy  of  this  and  the  eastern 
states  in  the  mad  and  violent  schemes  of  the  immediate 
abolitionists,  as  they  are  called.  He  may  be  assured  that 
the  abettors  and  supporters  of  Garrison,  and  other  itine 
rant  orators  who  go  about  stigmatizing  the  people  of  the 
south  as  "  men  stealers,"  are  not  the  organs  or  instru 
ments  of  the  democracy  of  the  north,  but  of  the  aristo 
cracy — of  that  party  which  has  always  been  in  favour  of 
encroaching  on  the  rights  of  the  white  labourers  of  this 
quarter.  It  is  so  in  Europe,  and  so  is  it  here.  There, 
the  most  violent  opponents  of  the  rights  of  the  people  of 
England,  are  the  most  loud  in  their  exclamations  against 
the  wrongs  of  the  people  of  Africa,  as  if  they  sought  to 
quiet  their  consciences,  for  oppressing  one  colour,  by  be 
coming  the  advocates  of  the  freedom  of  the  other.  Da 
niel  O'Connell  is  one  of  the  few  exceptions,  and  even  he, 
in  one  of  his  speeches,  with  the  keenest  and  most  bitter 
irony,  taunted  these  one-sided  philanthropists  with  per 
petuating  the  long  enduring  system  of  oppression  in  Ire 
land,  while  they  were  affecting  the  tenderest  sympathy  for 
the  blacks  of  the  West  Indies.  Was  Rufus  King,  the 
great  leader  on  the  Missouri  question,  a  representative  of 
the  democracy  of  the  north  1  and  were  not  the  interests 
of  the  planters  of  the  south  sustained  by  the  democracy 
alone  ? 

Governor  McDuffie  may  make  himself  perfectly  easy 
on  the  score  of  the  democracy  of  the  north.  They  are 
not  agrarians,  nor  fanatics,  nor  hypocrites.  They  make 
a  trade  neither  of  politics,  nor  philanthropy.  They  know 
well  that  admitting  the  slaves  of  the  south  to  an  equality 
of  civil  and  social  rights,  however  deeply  it  might  affect 
the  dignity  and  interests  of  the  rich  planters  of  that  quar 
ter,  would  operate  quite  as  injuriously,  if  not  more  so, 
on  themselves.  The  civil  equality  might  affect  both 


208  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

equally,  but  the  social  equality  would  operate  mainly  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  labouring  classes  among  the  demo 
cracy  of  the  north.  It  is  here  the  emancipated  slaves 
would  seek  a  residence  and  employment,  and  aspire  to 
the  social  equality  they  could  never  enjoy  among  their 
ancient  masters.  If  they  cannot  bring  themselves  up  to 
the  standard  of  the  free  labouring  white  men,  they  might 
pull  the  latter  down  to  their  own  level,  and  thus  lower 
the  condition  of  the  white  labourer  by  association,  if  not 
by  amalgamation. 

Not  only  this,  but  the  labouring  classes  of  the  north, 
which  constitute  the  great  mass  of  the  democracy,  are 
not  so  short-sighted  to  consequences,  that  they  cannot 
see,  that  the  influx  of  such  a  vast  number  of  emancipated 
slaves  would  go  far  to  throw  them  out  of  employment, 
or  at  least  depreciate  the  value  of  labour  to  an  extent 
that  would  be  fatal  to  their  prosperity.  This  they  know, 
and  this  will  forever  prevent  the  democracy  of  the  north 
from  advocating  or  encouraging  any  of  those  ill-judged, 
though  possibly  well -intended  schemes  for  a  general  and 
immediate  emancipation,  or  indeed  for  any  emancipa 
tion,  that  shall  not  both  receive  the  sanction  and  pre 
serve  the  rights  of  the  planters  of  the  south,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  secure  the  democracy  of  the  north  against 
the  injurious,  if  not  fatal  consequences,  of  a  competition 
with  the  labour  of  millions  of  manumitted  slaves. 

If  any  class  of  people  in  this  quarter  of  the  Union  have 
an  interest  in  this  question,  independent  of  the  broad 
principle  of  humanity,  it  is  the  aristocracy.  It  is  not 
those  who  labour  and  have  an  interest  in  keeping  up  its 
price,  but  those  who  employ  labour  and  have  an  interest 
in  depressing  it.  These  last  would  receive  all  the  bene 
fits  of  a  great  influx  of  labourers,  which  would  cause  the 
supply  to  exceed  the  demand,  and  consequently  depress 
the  value  of  labour ;  while  the  former  would  not  only 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  209 

experience  the  degradation  of  this  competition,  but  be 
come  eventually  its  victims. 

If  we  look  back  to  the  political  history  of  this  country, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  true  democracy  of  the  north  has 
always  supported  the  southern  policy.  They  sustained 
every  republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency  from  that 
section  of  the  Union  (for  such  we  considered  General 
Jackson)  and  their  uniform  co-operation  distinctly  indi 
cates  a  near  affinity  of  interests  and  principles  between 
the  republicans  of  the  south  and  the  democracy  of  the 
north.  The  latter  will  probably,  at  the  ensuing  Presi 
dential  election,  put  forward  a  candidate  identified  with 
these  interests  and  principles,  and  will  the  former  desert 
their  old  friends,  who  never  deserted  them  1  Will  they 
aid  in  dividing  and  distracting  the  republican  party  by 
multiplying  candidates,  and  thus  by  throwing  the  deci 
sion  upon  Congress,  pave  the  way  for  a  successful  in 
trigue  that  may  again  cheat  the  people  of  their  choice, 
and  restore  the  ascendancy  of  an  aristocratic  faction 
which  has  always  been  arrayed  in  opposition  to  their 
interests. 

Again  we  assure  Governor  McDuffie,  and  all  those 
who  imagine  they  see  in  the  democracy  of  the  north,  the 
enemies  to  their  rights  of  property,  and  the  advocates  of 
principles  dangerous  to  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  the 
planters  of  the  south,  that  they  may  make  themselves  per 
fectly  easy  on  these  heads.  The  danger  is  not  in  the 
democratic,  but  the  aristocratic  ascendancy.  The  whole 
is  a  scheme  of  a  few  ill-advised  men,  which  certain  whig 
politicians  have  used  to  set  the  republicans  of  the  south 
against  the  democracy  of  the  north,  and  thus,  by  dividing, 
conquer  them  both. 

18* 


210  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

THE  FERRY  MONOPOLY 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  February  18, 1835.] 
WE  have  received  from  Albany  a  copy  of  the  Report 
of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  Assembly  on  the  several 
petitions  addressed  to  that  body,  relative  to  the  establish- 
ment  of  additional  ferries  between  this  city  and  Brook 
lyn.  The  petitioners  ask  that  an  intelligent  and  impar 
tial  board  of  commissioners  may  be  appointed,  with  full 
powers  to  establish  ferries  between  New-York  ana  Long 
Island,  and  that  the  present  rates  of  ferriage  be  reduced. 
The  fact  that  additional  means  of  communication  between 
the  cities  of  New- York  and  Brooklyn  are  very  much 
needed,  that  the  present  rates  of  ferriage  are  exorbitantly 
high,  and  the  accommodations  none  of  the  best,  is  too  no 
torious  for  any  one  to  deny.  It  is  also  a  Well-known 
fact,  that  numerous  responsible  persons  have  frequently 
and  vainly  petitioned  the  corporate  authorities  of  this 
city  for  permission  to  establish  another  ferry,  offering  to 
bind  themselves  to  furnish  suitable  accommodations,  and 
to  pay  too  a  large  sum  for  the  desired  "  privilege."  In 
consequence  of  the  rejection  of  all  these  applications, 
resort  has  at  last  been  had  to  the  State  Legislature. 

The  power  of  establishing  ferries  over  the  East  River 
is  claimed  by  the  corporate  authorities  of  this  city  as  a 
franchise  conferred  upon  them  by  the  ancient  charters, 
and  confirmed  by  various  subsequent  acts  of  state  legisla 
tion. 

The  Report  before  us  contends  that  "  the  authority  to 
establish  ferries,  granted  to  the  city  of  New- York  by 
charter,  is  to  be  considered,  not  as  a  monopoly  for  the 
purpose  of  revenue  to  the  city,  but  as  a  delegated  legisla 
tive  power,  to  be  exercised  with  the  same  regard  to  the 
convenience  of  the  public,  as  the  legislature  themselves 
would  exercise  it."  They  further  argue  that  "  although 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  211 

the  charter  declares  that  the  Common  Council  shall  have 
the  sole  power  of  establishing  ferries,  yet  that  this  only 
means  that  this  power,  as  a  delegated  authority,  should  be 
possesed  by  them,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other  office,  tribu 
nal,  or  public  body"  and  that  the  power  may  be  altered 
modified,  repealed,  or  resumed,  at  the  discretion  of  the  le 
gislature,  always  taking  care,  of  course,  it  is  to  be  pre 
sumed,  not  to  violate  the  public  faith,  as  pledged  by  the 
acts  of  the  Common  Council  in  the  exercise  of  the  au 
thority  delegated  to  them. 

In  the  difficulties  which  citizens  now  experience  to  ob 
tain  reasonable  facilities  of  communication  between  New- 
York  and  Brooklyn,  a  forcible  illustration  is  afforded  of 
the  absurd  and  oppressive  nature  of  monopolies.  The 
question  how  far  the  power  to  regulate  this  matter  has 
been  granted  to  the  Common  Council  of  New-York,  and 
how  far  it  yet  resides  in  the  legislature  of  the  State  is 
one  which  we  have  not  qualified  ourselves  to  answr.  It 
seems  to  us,  however,  from  an  attentive  perusal  of  the  Re 
port,  and  a  reference  to  some  of  the  authorities  there 
mentioned,  that  the  positions  assumed  in  that  document 
are  sound,  and  that  the  Legislature  have  a  primary,  una- 
lienated  and  supreme  control  over  the  whole  matter  in 
dispute. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  common  sense  view  of  the  sub 
ject  plainly  teaches  that  there  ought  to  be  no  further  le 
gislative  or  municipal  interference  with  the  business  of 
ferriage,  than  is  demanded  by  a  simple  regard  for  public 
safety  and  convenience.  We  have  not  time  to  go  into 
any  argument  to-day  ;  but  on  this  subject,  as  on  all  others, 
we  are  the  advocates  of  the  principles  of  free  trade.  We 
would  put  no  hinderance  in  the  way  of  any  man,  or  set  of 
men,  who  should  choose  to  undertake  the  business  of  fer 
rying  people  across  the  river.  The  public  interests  would 
be  best  served  by  leaving  the  matter  to  regulate  itself-— or 


212  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OP 

rather  leaving  it  to  be  regulated  by  the  laws  of  demand  and 
supply.  Free  competition  would  do  more  to  insure  good 
accommodations,  low  prices,  swift  and  safe  boats,  and 
civil  attendants,  than  all  the  laws  and  charters  which 
could  ever  be  framed.  The  sheet  of  water  which  sepa 
rates  New- York  from  Brooklyn  ought  to  be  considered  as 
a  great  highway,  free  to  whomsoever  should  choose  to 
travel  on  it,  under  no  other  restriction  than  complying 
with  certain  regulations  for  the  mutual  safety  and  con. 
venience  of  all  :  such  regulations  as  are  now  enforced 
with  regard  to  private  vehicles  in  the  streets  and  public 
roads.  Yetjsince  the  corporate  authorities  choose  to  turn 
every  business  that  they  possibly  can  into  a  source  of  re. 
venue  to  the  city,  they  might  make  a  license  necessary 
for  ferry-boats,  as  is  now  done  with  regard  to  the  Broad- 
way  and  Bowery  omnibusses.  Even  this  tax  is  an  in- 
fringement  of  those  sound  principles  of  political  economy 
which  ought  to  govern  in  the  matter  ;  but  it  could  not 
be  objected  to  in  the  case  of  ferries,  while  it  is  recogniz 
ed  in  that  of  stage  coaches. 

In  making  these  remarks,  we  are  by  no  means  forgetful 
of  the  "  chartered  rights"  of  those  who  now  have  the  "  ex 
clusive  privilege"  of  carrying  people  to  and  fro  between 
New-York  and  Brooklyn.  Much  as  we  detest  the  prin 
ciple  of  such  monopolies,  we  would  by  no  means  justify 
any  invasion  of  the  rights  duly  granted  to  them.  The 
public  faith  is  pledged,  and,  at  the  expense  of  any  tem 
porary  inconvenience,  let  it  be  preserved  inviolate.  But 
though  the  Corporation  ought  not  to  invade  the  rights 
which  have  been  foolishly  granted,  yet  as  far  as  they 
still  retain  any  control  over  the  subject,  they  might  re 
store  to  the  community  their  natural  rights,  and  leave 
those  who  wish  to  establish  other  ferries  to  make  the 
best  terms  they  can  with  the  existing  monopolies.  Such 
a  course  is  in  reality  dictated  as  well  by  selfish  and  local 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  213 

interests  as  by  an  enlarged  and  liberal  view  of  the  whole 
question.  Every  additional  facility  of  access  to  this  me 
tropolis  increases  its  general  prosperity.  We  are  aware 
that  pains  have  been  taken  to  create  a  belief  that  the 
establishment  of  more  ferries  would  injuriously  affect  the 
prices  of  property  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  and  that 
narrow  and  selfish  opposition  has  been  thus  engendered. 
But  we  think  it  could  be  demonstrated  that  every  addi 
tional  means  of  communicating  with  Long  Island  will 
add  to  the  prosperity  of  New- York.  Be  this  as  it  may 
as  respects  owners  of  real  estate,  there  can  be  no  ques 
tion  that  it  is  true  with  regard  to  the  great  body  of  the 
people. 


THE  OPPOSITION  IN  THE  SENATE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  Feb.  24,  1835.] 

THE  Senate  of  the  United  States  occasionally  presents 
a  spectacle  calculated  to  excite  wonder,  if  not  ridicule,  at 
the  inconsistencies  of  many  of  its  distinguished  leaders. 
On  the  one  hand  we  see  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  has  carried  the 
doctrine  of  State  Rights  to  the  very  verge  of  the  greatest 
possible  extreme,  proposing  a  scheme  of  reform,  which,  if 
adopted,  will  place  the  states  on  the  pension  list  of  the 
United  States  for  eight  years  to  come  at  least.  Of  all 
the  plans  we  have  yet  seen  propounded  by  great  states 
men  to  increase  the  influence  of  the  federal  government, 
and  to  impoverish  the  people  at  the  same  time,  that  of 
raising  a  revenue  only  to  distribute  it  again,  minus  the 
deduction  the  expenses  of  collecting  and  distributing,  ap 
pears  to  us  the  most  preposterous.  Besides  this  inevita 
ble  loss  to  the  people,  they  will  of  necessity  lose  the  use 
and  the  interest  of  this  surplus  revenue,  which  Mr.  Cal- 


214  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OP 

houn  calculates  at  nine  millions  per  annum,  during  the 
whole  period  which  elapses  from  the  time  of  paying  to 
that  of  receiving  it  back  again.  The  scheme  of  the  hon 
ourable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  for  enriching  the 
States,  reminds  us  of  the  honest  trader  who  always  sold 
his  goods  below  cost,  and  lived  by  the  loss. 

But  there  is  no  danger  that  those  who  pay  the  surplus 
of  nine  millions  per  annum  for  seven  or  eight  years  will 
ever  see  their  money  again.  The  current  of  taxation  is 
like  that  of  the  Mississippi :  it  always  runs  one  way  ;  it 
flows  into  the  great  ocean  of  public  expenditure,  and  is 
lost  in  oblivion.  The  money  returned  to  the  States  will 
never  find  its  way  into  the  pockets  of  its  old  owners  again. 
It  will  come  into  the  hands  of  certain  officers  of  the 
State  Governments,  who  will  infallibly  apply  it  to  "  the 
public  good,"  that  it  to  say,  "supplying  the  wants  of  the 
community,"  "giving  energy  to  public  enterprise,"  "  pro 
viding  new  avenues  for  the  surplus  products  of  the  coun 
try,"  &c.  &c.  ;  all  which,  done  into  plain  practical  Eng 
lish,  means  nothing  more  or  less  than  distributing  the 
money  contributed  equally  by  the  whole  community  in 
political  bribes,  or  to  further  the  schemes  of  a  few  specu 
lating  politicians,  who  make  a  trade  of  patriotism,  and 
apply  the  confidence  of  a  deceived  people  solely  to  their 
own  interested  purposes. 

In  the  midst  of  these  extraordinary  schemes  of  reform, 
supported  by  arguments  equally  extraordinary,  we  see  a 
system  of  most  extravagant  expenditures  adopted  by  these 
original  reformers,  for  the  encouragement  of  printing  and 
bookmaking  it  would  seem.  The  reformers  are  deter 
mined  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  their  re 
presentatives  shall  be  enlightened.  They  have  from  time 
to  time  voted  a  few  hundred  thousands  of  dollars  for 
printing  vast  numbers  of  speeches  and  reports  which 
would  take  the  people  years  to  read,  and  ages  to  compre- 


WILL  I  AM     L  E  CGE  TT 


215 


hend.  In  order  to  make  sure  of  the  people  becoming 
thoroughly  enlightened,  they  have  distributed  only  the 
arguments  on  one  side  of  the  question,  from  a  just  appre 
hension  that  if  the  other  was  presented  they  might  be 
placed  in  the  situation  of  a  certain  animal  between  two 
bundles  of  hay,  and  suffer  an  intellectual  starvation  in 
the  midst  of  too  great  plenty. 

In  addition  to  this  expedient  of  economy,  the  reformers 
in  the  Senate  have  voted  a  few  hundred  thousands  more 
for  the  double  purpose  of  supplyihg  themselves  with 
books,  and,  as  has  been  surmised,  of  enabling  certain  me 
ritorious  printers  of  newspapers  to  employ  the  money  of 
the  people  in  opposing  the  administration  of  their  choice. 
Thus  they  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone.  They  supply 
themselves  with  a  library  comprising  a  vast  accumula 
tion  of  useless  knowledge,  and  thus  enable  themselves  to 
legislate  to  the  greatest  advantage,  and  they  at  the  same 
time  foster  the  spirit  of  literature  by  multiplying  books 
that  nobody  reads.  Now,  for  our  humble  selves,  we  think 
this  mode  of  fitting  legislators  for  the  performance  of 
their  duties,  after  they  are  chosen,  is  putting  the  cart 
before  the  horse.  In  our  opinion  they  should  by  all 
means  be  qualified  beforehand,  as  in  all  other  trades,  in 
which  a  man  serves  his  apprenticeship  before  he  sets  up 
in  business.  This  extempore  education  reminds  us  of  the 
story  of  an  honest  Frenchman,  who,  having  occasion  for 
spiritual  advice  called  several  times  on  his  bishop,  but 
was  always  put  off  with  the  excuse  that  he  was  at  his 
studies.  Upon  which,  getting  at  last  out  of  all  patience, 
he  exclaimed,  "  I  wish  to  heaven  our  king  would  send  us 
a  bishop  who  had  finished  his  education." 

We  see  no  special  propriety  in  legislators  finishing  their 
education  at  the  expense  of  the  people ;  or  if  they  will  do 
this,  it  seems  but  just  that  the  other  functionaries  of  the 
government  should  be  put  on  the  same  footing.  It  was 


210        POLITICAL  WRITINGS  OF 

a  terrible  infraction  of  the  great  precept  of  doing  as  we 
would  be  done  by,  to  refuse  the  Attorney  General  an  ap 
propriation  for  law  books,  while  Congress  is  every  day 
voting  itself  a  supply  of  books  of  legislation.  It  is  ru 
moured  that  more  than  one  of  the  honourable  members 
has  set  up  a  book  store  at  the  seat  of  government,  and 
that  others  who  have  been  overlooked  by  the  people  at 
the  last  election,  intend  commencing  business  at  home, 
on  the  stock  in  trade  acquired  by  a  few  years  of  services 
to  the  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  see  Mr.  Clay  and  his  band  of 
reformers,  strenuously  opposing  the  increase  of  executive 
patronage,  by  advocating  the  principle  of  appointments 
for  life,  or  at  least  during  good  behaviour.  Does  it  not 
strike  the  honourable  Senator  that,  if,  as  he  presumes,  the 
whole  body  of  public  officers  are  "the  supple  tools  of  Exe 
cutive  power,"  that  these  men,  being  entirely  governed  by 
motives  of  self-interest,  will  make  much  greater  sacrifices 
for  an  appointment  for  life,  or  during  good  behaviour, 
than  for  one  of  four  years,  subject  to  the  will  of  the  Exe 
cutive,  or  the  vicissitudes  of  political  changes  ?  If  he 
looks  into  history,  he  will  find  the  atrocities  committed 
by  kings  and  nobles  to  secure  themselves  the  possession 
of  hereditary  honours  and  hereditary  power,  beyond  all 
comparison  greater  than  those  of  men  struggling  only  for 
a  temporary  superiority.  The  greater  the  boon  the 
greater  the  sacrifice ;  and  a  great  man  who  would  thwart 
the  wishes  of  the  people  fcr  the  sake  of  a  temporary 
office,  might  be  tempted  to  plunge  his  country  into  all  the 
horrors  of  a  revolution  to  render  the  possession  perma 
nent. 

But  what  right  does  Mr.  Clay  brand  the  whole  class 
of  office  holders,  with  being  "  the  supple  tools  of  Execu 
tive  power  ?  "  Does  he  speak  from  his  own  experience, 
or  is  this  high  charge  the  result  of  his  exalted  opinion  of 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  217 

human  nature  1     That  distinguished  person  is  himself  at 
this  moment  in  office,  and  has  been  nearly  all  his  life 
seeking  offices.     We  do  not  urge  this  as  a  reproach  ;  for 
situations  of  honour,  emolument  and  trust,  are  objects  not 
unworthy  of  the  highest  character  in  this  country,  and 
if  they  are  gained  by  means  arid  exertions  becoming  a 
man  of  principle  and  independence,  they  are  badges  of 
honour,  not  of  disgrace.     A  gentleman  once  standing  so 
high,  and  still  standing  high  in  the  estimation  of  a  con- 
siderable  portion  of  this  Union,  ought  to  be  above  repeat, 
ing  the  miserable  slang  about  office  holders,  with  which 
every  petty  disappointed  demagogue  solaces  his  miseries, 
and  assuages  the  aggravated  inflammation  of  his  political 
buffetings.     It  is  unworthy  of  him,  and  is  an  extravagant 
assumption.     One  great  fault  in  the  system  of  political 
ethics  acted  upon  by  .Mr.  Clay  and  his  whig  partizans, 
is  that  of  underrating  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the 
people.     They  ascribe  that  to  the  influence  of  office  hold 
ers,  which  is  in  reality  the  result  of  public  intelligence 
and  feeling,  and  stigmatize  as  the  corrupt  instrument  of 
"  the  supple  tools  of  Executive  power,"  what  in  reality  is 
nothing  more  than  enlightened  perception  of  their  own 
rights  and  interests  on  the  part  of  the  people.     Mr.  Clay 
and  his  partizans  have  been  defeated  by  the  free  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  not  by  a  combination  of  "  sup 
ple  tools  of  Executive  power."     His  own  party  once  had 
the  same  means  of  corruption  in  their  hands.     Were  they 
too  pure  to  use  them  ;  or  were  the  people  incorruptible  ? 
Again  we  repeat,   the  slang  is  unworthy  the  high  source 
whence  it  emanated  on  this  occasion.     It  is  in   fact  a 
general  and  sweeping  charge  against  the  character  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  because  it  directly  intimates 
that  they  are  all  equally  assailable  by  corruption,  or  that 
they  are  instruments  in  the  hands  of  "  the  supple  tools  of 
Executive  power." 
VOL.  I.— 19 


218  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

• 

But  while  expressing  our  just  reprehension  of  this 
most  illiberal  denunciation,  we  cannot  forbear  a  burst  of 
unfeigned  pleasure  at  the  assertion  of  the  honourable 
Senator  which  follows.  Mr.  Clay  insisted  that,  "  Respon 
sibility  was  as  essential  an  ingredient  of  a  free  govern- 
ment,  as  the  vital  air  which  surrounds  us  was  necessary 
to  animal  life.  Every  officer  was  responsible  to  the  peo 
ple  ;  all  were  public  servants."  We  should  like  to  have 
seen  how  the  "  responsible  "  Senators  from  New-Jersey, 
Alabama,  Mississippi  and  North  Carolina  looked  at  re- 
ceiving  such  a  lecture  as  this.  It  was  a  most  unkind 
cut  thus  to  tell  them  to  their  faces  that  they  had  been  ex- 
isting  for  so  long  a  time  without  the  "  vital  air,"  which 
was  "  absolutely  necessary  for  animal  life,"  and  that  of 
consequence  they  "smelt  of  mortality."  If  they,  or  any 
one  of  them,  except  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  ever  forgive  him, 
they  are  better  Christians  than  we  supposed. 

In  the  midst  of  these  scenes,  which  are  calculated  to 
create  a  surmise  that  frequent  disappointments,  like  too 
much  learning,  are  apt  to  make  men  mad,  we  turn  with 
great  pleasure  to  the  manly,  consistent,  and  straight 
forward  course  of  the  distinguished  Senator  from  Missouri, 
Colonel  Benton.  Vigorous,  intelligent  and  indefatigable  ; 
without  fear  and  without  reproach  ;  equally  remarkable 
for  the  sagacity  and  clearness  of  his  intellect,  and  the 
unfaltering  industry  of  his  research  ;  always  ready,  al 
ways  profound,  and  always  irresistible,  he  marches 
straight  forward,  right  into  the  trenches  of  his  adversa 
ries,  and  routs  them  from  every  fancied  strong-hold  they 
occupy.  The  Republic  owes  him  much,  and  we  trust 
that  it  will  not  be  found  ungrateful. 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  219 


[From  the  Evening  Post,  March  6,  1835.] 
WE  devote  the  entire  reading  portion  of  our  paper  to 
day,  together  with  some  additional  columns  borrowed 
from  advertisements,  to  the  proceedings  of  Congress  on 
the  two  last  days  of  the  session.  It  will  give  our  readers 
great  pleasure  to  perceive  that  the  protracted  discussion 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  subject  of  our 
differences  with  France,  at  last  terminated  in  the  unani 
mous  adoption  of  a  resolution  that  the  treaty  with  France 
ought  to  be  maintained,  and  its  execution  insisted  on.  Mr. 
CAMBRELENG  has  entitled  himself  to  the  greatest  credit 
for  his  able,  conciliatory  and  truly  American  course  on 
this  question.  And  of  Mr.  ADAMS  we  must  say,  also, 
that  though  not  entirely  free  from  his  old  trick  of  "dodg 
ing,"  he  behaved  on  this  question,  on  the  last  day  of  the 
discussion,  in  a  manner  which,  if  it  more  frequently  cha 
racterized  his  conduct,  would  very  materially  increase  his 
claims  to  the  respect  of  his  countrymen. 

That  our  readers  may  have  before  them  the  means  of 
ascertaining  what  has  been  done  and  what  left  undone 
by  Congress,  we  publish  to-day  a  list  of  J;he  bills  which 
have  received  the  assent  of  both  branches  of  that  body, 
and  now  only  require  the  signature  of  the  President  to 
be  laws  of  the  land.  A  glance  at  this  list  will  serve, 
more  forcibly  than  any  thing  we  can  say,  to  show  how 
shamefully  the  National  Legislature  have  trifled  away  the 
session.  But  few  of  the  important  measures  which  the 
country  looked  for  at  their  hands  have  been  attended  to. 
The  hour  of  their  dissolution  arrived  without  their  hav 
ing  consummated  a  tenth  part  of  the  business  for  which 
they  convened.  Never,  since  the  adoption  of  the  Consti 
tution,  was  there  a  more  utterly  unprofitable  session  of 


220  POLITICAL      WHITINGS     OP 

Congress.  The  Senate,  governed  to  the  last  by  its  fac- 
tious  spirit— its  ruling  passion  of  hostility  to  the  President 
and  to  the  democracy  of  the  country,  strong  even  in  death 
— did  all  in  its  power  to  embarrass  the  other  House,  and 
defeat  those  measures  which  are  imperatively  demanded 
by  the  posture  of  our  Foreign  affairs. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  venomous  and  spiteful  tern- 
per  that  body  voted  against  the  appropriation  of  three 
millions  to  put  the  country  in  a  posture  of  defence,  and 
voted  against  it  on  the  shallow  pretence  that  such  an  ap 
propriation  was  placing  both  the  sword  and  purse  in  the 
hands  of  the  Executive !  A  factious  majority— among 
which  we  are  glad  to  see  the  name  of  but  one  of  those 
who  have  hitherto  supported  the  administration,  and  sorry 
that  that  one  is  Judge  WHITE  —  have  dared  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  responsibility  of  defeating  a  bill  ab 
solutely  indispensable  in  the  present  emergency  to  the 
safety  of  our  country.  We  shall  be  mistaken,  indeed,  if 
public  sentiment  do  not  brand  this  proceeding  with  the 
name  of  infamy  which  it  deserves.  We  look  on  each  in- 
dividual  who  voted  against  that  most  just  and  wise  and 
necessary  appropriation,  as  guilty  of  little  less  than  trea 
son.  We  ask  on  this  subject,  attention  to  the  article 
from  the  Globe  of  yesterday,  giving  some  account  of  the 
factious  conduct  of  the  Senate. 

The  Judiciary  bill,  the  prime  object  of  which  was  to 
defeat  the  nomination  of  Mr.  TANEY,  as  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  did  not  receive  the  concurrence  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  The  debate  on  this  subject 
will  be  found  interesting.  The  National  Intelligencer 
remarks  that  the  nomination  of  Mr.  TANEY  was  indefi 
nitely  postponed  by  the  Senate  in  Executive  session,  on 
Tuesday  evening. 

We  rejoice  that  the  insulting  clause  added  by  the  Se 
nate,  on  motion  of  DANIEL  WEBSTER,  to  the  General  Ap- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT. 

propriation  bill,  was  indignantly  rejected  by  the  House. 
Mr.  Adams  did  himself  great  credit  by  the  spirit  which 
he  displayed  on  that  occasion.  We  do  not  agree  with 
him  in  the  position  that  it  is  within  the  constitutional 
power  of  the  President  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  mission 
to  England  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 

O 

but  on  the  contrary  we  are  at  a  loss  to  perceive  how  any 
intelligent  mind  can  find  a  shadow  of  authority  for  such 
a  proceeding  in  the  language  of  the  Constitution,  which 
to  us  seems  most  plainlyjto  withhold  the  power  of  appoint, 
ment  from  the  President,  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
Senate,  except  in  a  case  which,  as  regards  the  embassy  to 
England,  does  not  now  exist.  But  whether  the  Presi 
dent  has  or  has  not  the  constitutional  right  toappoint  a  min 
ister  during  the  recess,  the  clause  added  to  the  appropria 
tion  bill  was  equally  improper,  and  deserved  the  pointed 
condemnation  which  it  received  from  the  House.  If  the 
President  has  a  right  to  appoint,  the  Senate  have  no  busi 
ness  to  limit  the  exercise  of  his  constitutional  powers  : 
if  he  has  not  the  right  to  appoint,  they  have  no  business 
to  insert  a  clause  of  limitation  under  the  presumption  that 
he  would  exceed  his  constitutional  powers. 

We  have  left  ourselves  room  barely  to  ask  the  atten 
tion  of  our  readers  to  the  exposition  made  by  the  Wash 
ington  Globe  of  Tuesday  respecting  the  unworthy  con 
duct  of  the  majority  in  the  Senate  on  the  subject  of  Mr. 
Benton's  expunging  resolution.  This  ignoble  triumph, 
obtained  by  legislative  trickery,  will  be  of  short  duration. 

19* 


222  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 


THE  SENATE  AND  THE  FRENCH  QUESTION. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  March  9,  1835.] 
ALL  parties  and  all  men  in  this  country  must  unite  in 
the  opinion  that  the  omission,  on  the  part  of  Congress  to 
provide  for  the  national  defence,  in  the  present  posture 
of  public  affairs,  is  deeply  censurable.  Fall  the  blame 
where  it  may,  this  is  an  instance  of  remissness  which  all 
must  alike  condemn.  Difference  of  opinion  may  exist 
in  alloting  the  censure,  but  there  can  be  no  difference  as 
to  the  fact  of  the  censure  being  deserved.  Our  relations 
with  France  are  now  in  such  a  situation  that  it  may  be 
considered  an  even  chance  whether  we  shall  have  peace 
or  war.  Some  of  our  best  informed  citizens,  who  have 
resided  much  abroad,  and  are  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  sentiments  and  temper  of  many  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers  of  the  French  Government  on  the  subject  of  the  in 
demnity  due  to  this  country,  consider  war  as  more  proba 
ble  than  we  have  stated.  But  whatever  may  be  the  de 
gree  of  probability,  no  one  can  shut  his  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  our  relations  with  France  are  such  as  imperatively 
require  that  we  should  be  prepared  for  hostilities.  Our 
minister  at  Paris,  in  an  official  communication  to  his 
Government,  has  stated  it  as  his  deliberate  opinion,  that 
if  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies  should  again  reject 
the  bill  of  indemnity,  it  is  highly  probable  that  France 
would  anticipate  our  reprisals  by  the  seizure  of  our  vessels 
in  her  ports,  and  an  attack  on  our  ships  in  the  Mediterra 
nean  with  a  superior  force.  Her  hostile  measures  in 
such  an  event  would  not  be  limited  to  these  acts.  We 
might  hourly  expect  to  hear  of  a  French  fleet  upon  our 
coast;  and  the  first  intelligence  of  their  approach  might 
be  the  booming  of  their  cannon,  as  they  poured  their 
volleys  into  our  unarmed  fortresses  ,and  sweeping  by  them, 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT. 


223 


entered  unresisted  into  our  very  harbours.  Where  then 
would  be  our  forces  to  beat  them  back  ?  Where  would 
be  our  navy,  to  meet  them  midway  on  the  seas,  and  guard 
our  shores  from  the  ravages  of  the  foe  ?  Where  would 
be  our  coast  defences,  to  bar  the  entrance  of  hostile 
fleets  ?  Shall  such  a  state  of  things  arrive,  and  find  us 
without  an  army ;  with  our  ships  of  war  dismantled  at 
the  docks,  and  our  fortresses  delapidated  and  unmanned  ? 
Is  the  country  to  be  thus  taken  by  surprise,  unprepared 
to  strike  a  single  blow  for  the  maintainance  of  its  vaunted 
freedom,  and  subject  to  be  overrun  and  harried  by  an 
insolent  foe  ?  And  why  must  we  run  the  hazard  of  this 
incalculable  evil  1 

The  obvious  and  only  answer  to  this  question  is,  be 
cause  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  did  not  choose  to 
trust  the  spending  of  three  millions  of  dollars  for  the  na 
tional  defence  to  the  discretion  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  nation  !      We  see  at   the  head  of  our  Government  a 
man  recently  elected  to  that  exalted  station  by  an  over- 
whelming  majority  of  the  free  suffrages  of  the  people  ;  a 
man  of  unequalled  military  experience  and  sagacity  ;  a 
man  who,  since  his  first  elevation  to  the  highest  office  of 
the  country,  in  all  the  difficult  and  trying  questions  on 
which  he  has  been  called  to  act,  has  so  borne  himself  as 
to  command,  more  and  more,  at  each  successive  exhibi 
tion  of  his  character,  the  admiration,  the  esteem  and  the 
gratitude  of  the  people.     This  is  the  man  whom  the  Sen- 
ate  would  not  trust  with  the  expenditure  of  three  millions 
of  dollars,  to  put  the  country  in  an  attitude  of  defence, 
if  events  should  occur  before  the   next  session  of  Con- 
gress  to  render  defence  necessary.      This  is  the  length 
and  the  breadth  and  the  depth  of  the   question.      The 
Senate  have  left  the  country  defenceless,   rather  than 
trust  the  ordering  of  its  defence  to  the  wisdom  and  patri 
otism  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  who  possesses,  and  has  nobly 


224  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

earned,  the  people's  unlimited  confidence.  Partizan 
newspapers  and  partizan  orators  may  fume  and  vapour 
as  they  please  ;  but  this  is  the  naked  simple  fact.  The 
Senate  have  incurred  this  tremendous  responsibility  ;  and 
no  art  of  sophistry,  and  no  device  of  misrepresentation 
can  shift  it  from  their  shoulders  to  those  of  the  other 
branch  of  the  national  legislature. 

The  very  eagerness  of  the  National  Intelligencer  to 
throw  the  blame  of  this  most  parracidal  conduct  on  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
shows  the  prophetic  consciousness  of  guilt  on  the  part  of 
those  Senators  whose  mouthpiece  that  unprincipled  jour 
nal  is,  that  the  people  will  judge  rightly  where  the  cen 
sure  belongs.      It  is  all  in  vain  to  attempt  to  throw  the 
odium  on  Mr.  CAMBRELENG.      Throughout  the  whole  of 
this  affair,  that  gentleman's  conduct  has  been  dictated 
by  the  truest  patriotism  and  the  most  enlightened  policy. 
From  the  first  to  the  last,  he  evinced  the  strongest  desire 
to  merge  considerations  of  party  in  the  higher  considera 
tions  of  what  was  due  to  his  entire  country.      Never  did 
he  speak  in  a  loftier,  more  liberal,  more  conciliatory  tone. 
He  laboured  earnestly,  assiduously,  successfully,  to  have 
such  measures  adopted  as  might  properly  speak  the  senti 
ments  of  this  great  nation.     To  unite  as  many  as  possi 
ble  in  such  measures,  he  voluntarily  and  cheerfully  gave 
up  his  resolution  and  adopted  in  place  of  it  the  language 
of  an  opponent.       When  that  opponent  then  cavilled  at 
his  own  terms,  he  modified  them  to  obviate  the  new  ob 
jection.     He  seemed  not  to  care  on  whom  the  honour  of 
the  proceeding  should  rest,  so  that  the  honour  of  the  na 
tion  was  asserted.     In  the  same  spirit,  he  introduced  the 
proposition  to  appropriate  three  millions  of  dollars  to  pro 
vide  for  the   national  defence.       This  proposition  was 
carried  by  an  immense  majority,  and  among  those   who 
voted  for  it  (to  their  honour  be  it  spoken)  were  several 


WILLIAM      L  E  G  G  E  TT .  225 

prominent  opponents  of  the  administration.     The  Senate 
rejected  the  appropriation — rejected  it  positively,  entirely 

suggesting  no  amendment,  proposing  no  alternative. 

The  House  again  considered  it,  and  again,  by  an  undi- 
minished  majority,  declared  in  favour  of  the  measure. 
Again  the  Senate,  by  a  party  vote,  rejected  it ! — and  still 
that  body  offered  no  substitute,  and  intimated  no  midway 
course.  The  House  once  more  took  up  the  subject,  and 
after  discussion,  a  third  time  decided,  by  a  large  majority, 
to  adhere  to  the  appropriation,  and  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee  to  confer  with  the  Senate.  Before  that  Committee 
and  the  Senate's  Committee  had  come  to  any  agree- 
ment  on  the  question,  the  hour  had  passed  on  which  the 
functions  of  the  twenty-third  Congress  expired,  and 
when  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
returned  to  the  Representative  Chamber,  they  found  that 
there  was  not  a  quorum  present,  and  that  several  mem- 
bers  who  were  present  refused  to  vote  on  any  question  on 
the  ground  that  their  legislative  functions  had  ceased. 
This  is  a  brief  statement  of  undeniable  facts.  Can  there 
be  any  difficulty,  then,  in  deciding  where  the  censure  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States  ought  to  fall  ?  By  whose 
act  has  their  country  been  left  in  a  defenceless  situation 
at  a  time  when  it  is  threatened  with  a  foreign  war,  and 
when  even  now,  perhaps,  a  French  fleet  is  on  its  way  to 
our  shores  ?  No  man,  who  regards  truth,  and  whose 
mind  is  not  darkened  with  the  worst  of  prejudices,  can 
fail  to  ascribe  our  deplorable  situation  to  the  conduct  of 
the  factious  majority  of  the  United  States  Senate.  Thank 
heaven,  the  reign  of  terror  is  over  ! 


226  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 


UNCURRENT  BANK  NOTES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March,  10, 1835.] 
WE  wish  some  public  spirited  man  who  has  access  to 
data  that  would  afford  a  reasonable  basis  for  a  conjectural 
calculation,  would  furnish  us  with  an  estimate  of  the  im 
mense  amount  of  money  which  is  annually  lost  in  this 
city,  by  the  labouring  classes,  in  the  discount  upon  un- 
current  bank  notes  in  circulation.  Do  the  mechanics 
and  the  labourers  know,  that  every  dollar  which  is  paid 
in  the  discounting  of  uncurrent  notes  in  Wall-street,  is 
filched  out  of  their  pockets  ?  That  such  is  the  fact  is 
susceptible  of  the  clearest  demonstration. 

In  the  first  place,  the  circulation  of  uncurrent  bank 
notes  is  chiefly  kept  up  by  a  direct  and  infamous  fraud 
upon  the  working  classes.     It  is  a  common  practise  with 
employers  when  they  pay  off  their   hands  on  Saturday, 
to  go  into  Wall-street  and  purchase  of  some  broker  for 
the  purpose,  a  lot  of  notes  of  depreciated  value,  varying 
from  half  to  one  and  a  half  per  cent,  below  par.     These 
notes  they  palm  off  upon  their  workmen  as  money.     If 
a  master  mechanic  has  a  thousand  dollars  a  week  to  pay 
to  his  hands,  it  is  clear  that  he  pockets  every  week  by 
this  operation  some  ten  or  fifteen  dollars ;  and  it  can  be 
shown  with  equal  clearness  that  those  in  his  employment 
are  defrauded  out  of  this  sum.     If  a  man  hesitates  to  take 
this  depreciated  paper,  he  is  told  that  it  passes  as  cur 
rently  as  silver  in  payment  of  any  thing  he  may  wish  to 
purchase  ;    and  so,  in  truth,  it  does.      Yet  he  could  not 
exchange  it  for  silver,  without  paying  the  broker  a  dis 
count,  and  let  him  not  imagine,  though  he  may  seem  to 
pass  it  away  to  his  grocer  or  his  baker  at  par,  that  he 
does  not  lose  this  discount  all  the  same.     Nay,  the  me 
chanic  and  labouring  man  whose  employers  are  consci- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  227 

entious  enough  to  pay  them  their  wages  in  real  money, 
bear  their  full  proportion  of  the  loss  on  the  uncurrent 
notes  in  circulation,  equally  with  those  to  whom  the  de 
preciated  paper  is  paid.  The  entire  sum  paid  for  the  dis 
count  of  depreciated  bank  paper  falls  on  the  mechanics  and 
labourers,  and  is  wrung  out  of  their  sweat  and  toil.  Nay 
more  :  they  not  only  lose  the  amount  which  is  actually  paid 
for  discount  to  the  money  changers,  but  they  also  pay  a  per 
centage  on  that  amount  equal  to  the  average  rate  of  profit 
which  merchants  charge  on  their  goods.  We  can  make 
this  plain  to  the  dullest  apprehension. 

The  labouring  man,  when  he  returns  home  of  a  Satur 
day  evening,  with  his  week's  wages  in  his  pocket,  in  this 
depreciated  paper,  stops  at  his  grocer's,  and  pays  him  the 
amount  of  his  weekly  bill.  The  grocer  in  the  course  of 
a  few  days  pays  this  money  away  into  the  hands  of  the 
wholesale  merchant  from  whom  he  purchases  his  commo 
dities.  The  merchant,  when  a  certain  amount  of  this 
kind  of  paper  has  accumulated  on  his  hands,  sends  it  into 
Wall-street,  and  sells  it  to  the  brokers,  and  when  his 
clerk  returns,  an  entry  is  made  in  his  books  of  the  amount 
paid  for  discount.  The  sum  total  paid  in  the  course  of  a 
year  for  the  discount  of  depreciated  paper  forms  an  item 
of  expense  which  is  calculated  as  one  of  the  elements  in 
the  cost  of  his  goods.  To  pay  for  his  goods  he  is  obliged 
to  buy  bills  of  exchange,  or  in  other  words,  to  remit  specie 
to  Europe.  Whatever  this  specie  costs  him,  his  goods 
cost  him  ;  and  he  therefore  looks  upon  the  amount  he 
had  to  pay  to  turn  the  uncurrent  paper  received  from  his 
customers  into  specie  as  a  constituent  part  of  the  first 
cost  of  his  merchandize.  Upon  the  whole  sum  of  the  cost, 
thus  ascertained,  he  puts  a  certain  per  centage  profit,  and 
fixes  his  prices  accordingly.  The  retail  trader  then 
buying  a  lot  of  goods  of  him,  pays  him  not  only  a  pro 
portional  part  of  the  discount  which  the  wholesale  mer- 


228  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

chant  actually  paid  on  his  uncurrent  paper,  but  a  profit 
thereon.  This,  however,  makes  no  difference  to  him,  for 
he  has  only  to  put  his  own  profit  on  above  all,  and  let  the 
loss  fall  on  the  labourer,  when  he  comes  for  his  tea  and 
sugar  and  other  little  necessaries  and  comforts  for  his 
family.  That  this  is  a  true,  though  homely  exposition 
of  the  case,  any  body  must  see  who  will  only  give  himself 
the  trouble  to  think  about  it. 

The  whole  amount  of  uncurrent  notes  which  pass 
through  the  broker's  hands  annually  may  be  stated  at  a 
given  sum,  and  the  discount  thereupon  amounts,  on  an 
average  to  a  given  per-centage.  This  sum,  whatever  it 
is,  (and  it  must  be  immense)  is  a  tax  on  the  business  of 
the  community,  which  each  individual  shuffles  off  his 
own  shoulders  on  those  of  the  persons  next  beneath  him, 
and  so  it  descends  by  gradation  till  it  reaches  the  broad 
backs  and  hard  hands  of  the  mechanics  and  labourers, 
who  produce  all  the  wealth  and  bear  all  the  burdens  of 
society. 

But  the  mechanics  and  labourers  have  it  in  their  power 
to  rid  themselves  of  this  imposition.  The  task  is  very 
easy  :  it  is  only  to  learn  the  efficacy  of  the  word  COM 
BINATION.  There  is  a  magic  in  that  word,  when 
rightly  understood  and  employed,  which  will  force  the 
scrip  nobility  to  do  them  justice,  and  yield  them,  without 
drawback  and  without  cheatery,  the  full  fruits  of  their 
toil.  Let  them  inquire  by  what  means  it  is  that  this 
immense  amount  of  depreciated  paper  is  kept  in  circula 
tion.  They  will  find  it  is  chiefly  through  the  instru 
mentality  of  master-workmen  and  others  having  me 
chanics  and  labourers  in  their  employment.  They  will 
find  that  this  wretched  substitute  for  money  is  bought,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  palming  it  off  upon  them  as  real 
value,  while  their  task-masters  and  the  brokers  share  the 
spoils  between  them.  A  mechanic  dare  not  refuse  to 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  229 

take  the  wretched  trash ;  because,  if  he  does,  he  will  be 
turned  away  to  starve.  But  what  a  single  mechanic 
may  not  be  able  to  compass  alone,  could  be  easily  effected 
by  combination.  Will  the  mechanics  and  labourers 
wait  for  eighteen  months,  in  the  hope  that  the  juggling 
law  now  before  the  legislature  will  by  that  time  go  into 
operation,  and  rid  them  of  the  paper  money  curse  1  Let 
them  not  rest  in  any  such  belief.  Let  them  know  their 
own  strength  and  resolve  to  be  imposed  on  no  longer. 
Why  are  the  producers  of  all  the  wealth  of  society  the 
poorest,  most  despised  and  most  down-trodden  class  of 
men  ?  Because  they  submit  to  be  the  dupes  of  the  scrip 
nobility — because  they  are  ignorant  of  their  own  strength. 
Let  them  combine  together  to  demand  whatever  the  plain 
principles  of  justice  warrant,  and  we  shall  see  what  power 
there  is  which  can  deny  them. 


THE  LEGISLATION  OF  CONGRESS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March  11,  1835.] 
WE  have  been  at  the  pains  to  count  the  number  of  acts 
passed  by  Congress  at  its  last  session.  If  we  have  made 
no  mistake  in  our  enumeration,  they  amount,  in  all,  to 
one  hundred  and  fifteen.  Of  these  no  less  than  eighty- 
four  are  of  a  private  or  local  character,  and  in  the  re 
maining  thirty -one  we  do  not  perceive  what  there  is  of 
so  intricate  or  difficult  a  character  as  to  have  required 
Congress  to  continue  its  legislative  functions  several  hours 
beyond  the  period  of  its  constitutional  existence.  Indeed, 
we  do  not  know  but  that  body  would  have  continued 
making  laws,  or  rather  making  speeches,  until  this  time, 
had  not  the  indecency  of  any  further  violation  of  the  con 
stitution  been  prevented  by  the  want  of  a  quorum,  which 
at  last  forced  it  to  adjourn. 
VOL.  L— 20 


230  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

We  are  not  aware  of  any  particular  clause  in  the  Con 
stitution  which  ordains  that  Congress  shall  be  the  grand 
political  arena  of  the  country  ;  yet  it  seems,  by  the  com 
mon  consent  of  all  the  members,  to  be  so  considered, 
and  their  whole  conduct  is  squared  accordingly.  It 
happens  as  one  of  the  consequences  of  this  construction, 
that  the  legislative  business  of  the  nation  is  generally 
put  off  to  the  latest  period,  and  then  huddled  through 
and  "  slubbered  o'er  in  haste,"  in  the  last  three  or  four 
days  of  the  session.  This  remark  was  particularly  illus 
trated  by  the  last  Congress.  Every  thing  was  crowded 
into  the  last  few  hours,  when,  owing  to  the  absolute  ne 
cessity  of  members  attending  to  their  private  arrange 
ments,  and  to  agencies  committed  to  them  by  their  con 
stituents,  it  was  difficult  to  procure  the  attendance  of  a 
quorum,  and  it  continually  occurred  that,  when  questions 
were  taken,  it  was  found  necessary  to  move  a  call  of  the 
House,  in  order  to  muster  the  requisite  number  of  members. 

By  examining  the  votes  given  on  a  large  portion  of 
the  questions,  it  will  be  found  that  they  were  decided  by 
a  bare  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  the  representa 
tives  of  the  people,  and  consequently  the  constituency  of 
the  United  States  was  not  properly  represented  on  these 
occasions.  Indeed  it  has  long  been  notorious  that  there 
is  great  laxity  on  the  part  of  members  in  their  attendance 
on  Congressional  debates,  and  it  is  only  on  great  party 
questions  that  they  can  be  rallied.  Hence,  in  most  ca 
ses  of  a  private  nature — which  it  will  be  seen  by  our 
statement  constitute  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  whole — 
the  money  of  the  people  is  disposed  of  without  the  con 
sent  or  knowledge  of  their  immediate  representatives. 
Thus  the  great  principle  of  representation  is  practically 
frittered  away  to  nothing,  and  the  people  are  virtually 
deprived  of  their  voice  and  influence  in  the  disposal  of 
their  own  money,  and  in  the  assertion  of  their  own  rights. 


WILLIAM     LEGGHTT.  231 

The  greater  part  of  every  session  of  Congress  is 
wasted  in  unprofitable  debate.  A  few  great  party  ques. 
tions  occupy  nearly  the  whole  time  ;  and  when,  at  the 
close  of  the  term,  it  becomes  indispensably  necessary -to 
act,  the  hours,  days,  and  weeks  consumed  in  talking 
without  acting  are  redeemed  by  action  without  debate 
or  consideration.  They  fly  from  one  extreme  to  the 
other.  The  favourite  maxim  of  the  Albany  Argus,  in 
media  tutissimus  ibis,  is  no  part  of  the  wisdom  of  Con 
gress.  Laws,  involving  important  principles  and  vast 
expenditures,  are  hurried  along  on  a  torrent  of  impetu 
ous  legislation,  with  a  precipitancy  that  defies  reflection 
or  analysis,  and  finally  passed,  perhaps  in  the  dead  of 
night,  by  a  Rump  Congress,  consisting  of  a  bare  quorum 
of  members,  worn  out  with  fatigue,  and  some  of  them 
probably  half  asleep. 

The  last  days  of  a  session  are  not  the  proper  period  for 
important  acts  of  legislation,  not  only  for  the  reasons 
already  stated,  but  for  others  of  equal  weight  and  im 
portance.  The  passions,  engendered  by  months  of  argu. 
ment,  rivalry  and  contention,  always  break  forth  at  that 
period,  and  produce  a  state  of  mind  utterly  incompati 
ble  with  calm,  temperate  consideration.  It  is  the  last 
round  of  a  long  fight,  and  each  party  summons  all  its 
energies  to  give  the  decisive  blow.  In  such  a  state  of 
things  it  may  well  happen — as  it  often  has  happened — 
that  measures  of  the  greatest  importance  are  debated  and 
decided  in  a  spirit  wholly  at  war  with  the  interests  and 
honour  of  the  nation.  Scenes  are  exhibited  calculated 
to  impair  that  respect  which  is  indispensable  to  the  ex 
ercise  of  authority  in  a  free  government.  Law-givers 
become  objects  of  contempt  or  derision,  and  the  people 
at  last  lose  that  confidence  in  the  representative  system, 
without  which  there  is  no  security  for  the  permanency  of 


232  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

our  Government.  That  confidence  once  wholly  lost,  and 
they  will  be  ready  to  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of 
despotism  as  a  refuge  from  doubt  and  despair. 

Either  the  present  number  of  representatives  in  Con 
gress  is  necessary,  or  it  is  not.  If  the  former,  then  a 
regular  and  general  attendance  is  demanded  of  the  mem 
bers.  If  the  latter,  then  it  is  an  abuse  to  saddle  the  peo 
ple  with  the  expense  of  these  supernumerary  legislators, 
who  spend  their  time  in  gallanting  the  ladies  about  the 
city  of  Washington,  or  flirting  with  them  in  the  galleries 
of  the  two  Houses.  If  their  wisdom  is  essential  to  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  then  the  people  who  pay  them 
have  a  right  to  its  exercise  :  if  it  is  not,  it  might  better 
be  emyloyed  on  their  own  account  at  home. 

The  close  of  every  session  of  Congress,  whether  short 
or  long,  invariably  exhibits  a  vast  mass  of  public  business 
either  not  acted  upon,  or  left  unfinished,  consisting  not 
unfrequently  of  questions  of  great  and  general  importance 
to  the  whole  Union.  This  lamentable  result  may  be 
partly  owing  to  the  annual  increase  of  private  claims 
not  susceptible  of  judicial  decision,  and  therefore  brought 
before  Congress  as  the  only  resort.  If  so,  it  would  seem 
to  be  high  time  to  make  such  a  disposition  of  these  mat 
ters  as  may  allow  ample  time  to  the  proper  affairs  of  the 
nation  ;  to  those  general  laws  which  are  of  universal 
concern,  and  the  neglect  of  which  is  felt  in  every  part  of 
the  country. 

The  cause  of  this  neglect  of  more  important  affairs,  in 
the  first  instance,  and  this  precipitate  legislation  on  them 
afterwards,  will  be  discovered  in  the  unlimited  indulgence 
of  the  rage  for  speech  making — the  cacoethes  loquendi^ 
which  is  the  prevailing  epidemic  in  Congress — added  to 
that  propensity  to  private,  partial,  and  local  legislation, 
which  is  becoming  the  curse  of  this  country.  Almost 
every  member  has  his  budget  of  matters  of  this  sort,  in 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  '233 

which  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  has  no  concern  what- 
ever,  and  which  he  cannot  die  in  peace  without  thrusting 
upon  the  attention  of  Congress,  and  urging  with  a  per- 
tinacity  and  verbosity  precisely  in  proportion  to  their 
insignificance.  In  this  way  the  people  are  borne  down 
to  the  earth  with  public  benefits  and  harrassed  with 
legislation,  and  there  is  some  reason  to  fear  that  it  will 
be  discovered  ere  long  that  they  cannot  breathe  without 
a  special  act  of  Congress. 

"  Do  NOT  GOVERN  TOO  MUCH,"  is  a  maxim  which  should 
be  placed  in  large  letters  over  the  speaker's  chair  in  all 
legislative  bodies.  The  old  proverb,  "  too  much  of  a 
good  thing  is  good  for  nothing,"  is  most  especially  appli 
cable  to  the  present  time,  when  it  would  appear,  from 
the  course  of  our  legislation,  that  common  sense,  com- 
mon  experience,  and  the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  are 
utterly  insufficient  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life  ;  that 
the  people  of  the  United  States  are  not  only  incapable  of 
self-government,  but  of  taking  cognizance  of  their  indi 
vidual  affairs  ;  that  industry  requires  protection,  enter- 
prize  bounties,  and  that  no  man  can  possibly  find  his 
way  in  broad  day  light  without  being  tied  to  the  apron- 
string  of  a  legislative  dry-nurse.  The  present  system  of 
our  legislation  seems  founded  on  the  total  incapacity  of 
mankind  to  take  care  of  themselves  or  to  exist  without 
legislative  enactment.  Individual  property  must  be 
maintained  by  invasions  of  personal  rights,  and  the 
"general  welfare"  secured  by  monopolies  and  exclusive 
privileges. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  will  discover  when 
too  late  that  they  may  be  enslaved  by  laws  as  well  as  by 
the  arbitrary  will  of  a  despot ;  that  unnecessary  re 
straints  are  the  essence  of  tyranny  ;  and  that  there  is  no 
more  effectual  instrument  of  depriving  them  of  their 
liberties,  than  a  legislative  body,  which  is  permitted  to 
20* 


234        ,          POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OP 

do  anything  it  pleases  under  the  broad  mantle  of  THE 
PUBLIC  GOOD — a  mantle  which,  like  charity,  covers  a 
multitude  of  sins,  and  like  charity  is  too  often  practised 
at  the  expense  of  other  people. 


WHO  PAYS  FOR  UNCURRENT  BILLS  ? 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March  11,  1835.] 
A  RETAIL  grocer  receives  from  his  customers  in  the 
course  of  a  week  say  a  hundred  dollars  in  uncurrent  bills. 
He  cannot  take  up  his  promissory  note  in  the  bank  with 
out  getting  these  uncurrent  bills  exchanged.  He  takes 
them  to  a  broker,  and  receives  ninety-eight  dollars  in 
bankable  money  for  them.  If  this  operation  is  repeated 
every  week,  it  amounts  to  say  fifty  dollars  in  the  course 
of  a  year.  Oat  of  whose  pocket  is  this  paper-money  tax 
paid  ?  Does  the  grocer  incur  the  loss  ?  Certainly  not ; 
he  pays  it  in  the  first  instance,  but  who  indemnifies  him  ? 
It  forms  one  of  the  items  of  his  annual  expenses,  which 
he  is  obliged  to  calculate  in  putting  a  profit  on  his  goods. 
Those  who  deal  with  him  pay  the  tax,  and  who  are  they  ? 
The  carpenter,  the  bricklayer,  and  the  labourer,  when 
they  buy  a  pound  of  tea,  or  cheese,  or  butter,  or  any 
other  article  in  his  line,  to  take  home  to  their  families. 
If  the  currency  of  the  city  were  specie,  or  even  paper 
convertible  into  specie  without  a  discount,  the  prices  of 
all  commodities  would  undergo  a  sensible  reduction. 
Every  article  of  consumption  is  now  charged  from  two  to 
three  per  cent,  higher  than  it  ought  to  be,  in  consequence 
of  the  depreciated  currency  in  circulation.  This  tax 
falls  almost  exclusively  on  the  mechanics  and  labourers. 
The  profit  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  bankers  and 
brokers.  Why  should  the  mechanics  and  labourers  be 


WILLIAM     LE  GG  E  TT. 


235 


burdened  to  support  banks  ?     Are  they  in  the  habit  of 
getting  discounts  ?     Do  they  live  by  bank-favours  ?    No, 
quite  the  reverse.     The  men  who  live  on  bank  credits 
are  not  labourers.      "  They   toil  not.   neither  do  they 
spin  ;  "   or  if  they  work  at  all,  it  is  head-work,  the  end 
and  aim  of  which  is  to  supply  themselves  with  luxuries 
'at  other  people's  expense.     Is  it  not  a  little  hard  that 
they  who  receive    none  of  the  benefits  dispensed   by 
banks,  should  be  saddled  with  all  the  burdens?     If  they 
will  suffer  the  scrip  nobility  to  mount  them,  however,  and 
spur  them,  like  horses,  or  we  might  more  properly  say 
like  asses,  it  is  their  own  fault,  since  they  have  it  in  their 
power  to  throw  them  off  whenever  they  please.     But  if 
they    would   rather  have   depreciated   paper    than  real 
money,  though  we  may  wonder  at  their  choice,  we  shall 
not  quarrel  with    it.     De  gustibus  non  est  disputandum. 
Perhaps  they  prefer,  as  a  matter  of  taste,  a  small  loaf  to 
a  large  one.      It  may  be  a  thing  of  no  consequence  to 
them  whether  they  have  to  pay  ten  pence  or  only  eight 
pence  a  pound  for  beef ;   and  to  be  caught  now  and  then 
with  a  few  dollars  of  broken  bank  notes  in  their  pockets 
may  be  considered  a  capital  joke.    We  should  think  their 
relish  of  this  joke  would  be  keener,  however,  if  they  had 
not  purchased  those  notes  by  several  days  of  hard  toil. 


THE  BANK  OF   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March  12,  1835..] 
MOST  seriously  and  earnestly  do  we  ask  the  attention 
of  the  public  to  the  subjoined  abstract  of  the  Report  of 
the  United  States  Bank  for  the  first  of  the  present  month. 
In  our  view  of  the  subject,  beyond  all  shadow  of  doubt, 
that  huge  moneyed  institution  is  acting  on  a  deliberate  and 
settled  design  to  make  one  last  and  desperate  effort  to 


236  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OP 

perpetuate  its  existence  by  again  shaking  the  foundations 
of  credit,  and  spreading  a  financial  panic  through  the 
land.  They  are  fatally  mistaken  who  imagine  that  the 
Monster  has  received  its  death-blow  ;  it  but  recoiled  for 
a  moment  paralysed  from  the  stroke,  and  is  now  spread 
ing  itself  out  for  a  more  desperate  struggle. 

Examine,  we  beseech  you,  readers,  the  present  condi 
tion  of  that  hateful  money  power,  as  exhibited  in  the 
statement  we  subjoin.  In  the  last  four  months  the  Bank 
has  extended  its  loans  MORE  THAN  TWELVE  MILLIONS  OF 
DOLLARS  !  What  a  warning  this  single  fact  speaks ! 
That  institution,  which,  eight  months  ago,  enormously  cur 
tailed  its  business  to  the  ruin  of  thousands  of  prosperous 
citizens,  and  the  dismay  of  the  whole  land,  on  the  pretext 
that  it  was  compelled  to  prepare  for  the  final  dissolution 
of  its  charter,  now,  when  there  are  no  extrrordinary  occa 
sions  for  money,  swells  itself  out,  of  its  own  voluntary  act, 
to  a  greater  degree  of  distension  than  it  ever  did  before. 
The  Branch  Bank  in  this  city  never  at  any  period  of  its 
existence  had  as  much  money  loaned  out  as  at  this  mo 
ment.  Its  loans  now  exceed  those  of  the  mother  bank  in 
Philadelphia,  which  was  never  the  case  before.  Every 
indication  shows,  not  only  that  a  pecuniary  pressure  and 
panic  is  in  preparation,  but  that  this  city  is  to  be  the  chief 
scene  and  centre  of  operations.  Another  desperate  ef 
fort  will  be  made  to  break  down  our  local  institutions,  and 
spread  dismay  and  financial  devastation  through  the  state. 
And  yet  the  local  banks  are  extending  themselves  as  confi 
dentially  if  this  slumbering  volcano  were  not  ready  to  ex 
plode  beneath  them,  and  scatter  their  foundations  to  the 
winds. 

It  requires  no  extraordinary  perspicacity  to  perceive 
that  another  panic,  and  more  dreadful  than  the  first,  is 
in  preparation.  The  approach  of  the  next  session  of 
Congress  is  the  season  chosen  for  carrying  this  design  in- 


WILLIAM     LE  GGE  TT 


237 


to  execution.  The  forcing  a  recharter  is  the  main  ob 
ject  in  view,  and  the  secondary  to  defeat  the  democracy 
in  the  election  of  President.  We  beg  men  capable  of 
reflection  to  ponder  on  this  subject.  We  beg  those  having 
influence  to  use  their  efforts  to  avert  the  evil.  The  local 
banks,  unwittingly,  are  lending  themselves  to  the  designs 
of  the  great  money  power.  They  are  discounting  with 
a  freedom  almost  unparalleled.  There  never  was  before 
such  a  constant  and  copious  flood  of  small  country  bank 
notes  pouring  into  this  city  as  at  the  present  moment. 
Shall  nothing  be  done  to  avert  this  evil— to  check  and 
roll  back  this  tide  of  ruin  7 

Earnestly  did  we  hope  that  the  Legislature  would  do 
what  a  regard  to  the  public  wishes,  and  a  regard  to  the 
public  interests  without  respect  to  their  wishes,  impera 
tively  required  in  relation  to  the  small  note  currency. 
If  all  notes  under  five  dollars  had  been  prohibited  at  once 
(and  the  currency  was  never  better  able  to  sustain  such  a 
measure)  the  calamitous  state  of  things  which  we  foresee 
might  at  least  be  obviated  in  a  degree.  One  important 
part  of  the  materials  of  panic  would  have  been  deficient. 
These  were  the  views  which  governed  us  in  the  Letter 
which  we  addressed  to  Governor  Marcy  through  our 
paper  of  the  24th  of  December  last.  For  those  views  we 
have  been  bitterly  reviled.  They  who  reproached  us  for 
them  we  live  to  see  how  true  were  our  predictions. 

Come  what  may,  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  us  to  know 
that  it  at  least  cannot  be  said  that  our  warning  voice 
was  not  timely  raised.  If  the  statement  which  we  sub 
join  do  not  rouse  the  people,  they  would  slumber  in  apa- 
thetic  indifference  to  the  future,  though  one  should  rise 
from  the  dead  to  put  them  on  their  guard.  Have  the 
fearful  lessons  of  experience  taught  them  by  the  events  of 
last  winter  been  already  forgotten  ?  Here  is  something 
then  to  freshen  their  recollections  : 


- 
238        POLITICAL  WRITINOS  OF 


ABSTRACT    OF   THE 

REPORT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK 
For  the  first  of  March,  1835. 

Loans  on    Personal   Security $31,152,368.22 

do.    on  Bank  Stock.     .     .     .     .*".'.     .     .     862,566.12 
Other  Security 3,935,370.13 


$35,956,304.47 
Domestic  Bills  of  Exchange  .     .....    21,864,100.18 

$57,814,404.65 

In  London  and  Paris $2,754,244.65 

Specie 16,567,893.36 

Redemption  of  Public  Debt 699,999.89 

Treasury  United  States 690,704.37 

Public  Offices 1,192,723.02 

Individual  Depositors 8,903,807.35 

Circulation 19,519,777.90 

Due  from  other  Banks 2,261,477.10 

Due  to  ..     do 5,011,634.24 

Notes  of  States  Banks 2,173,925.41 

Loans  at  New  York  Branch. 

On  Personal  Security $5,505,  365.05 

On  Bank  Stock  .     .     .     , 134,950.00 

On  other  Security 483,574.07 

Domestic  Exchange 2,328,906.83 


$8,452,797.95 

At  Boston  .     .     .     .    , 2,774,318.75 

At  Philadelphia 8,067,899.79 

At  Baltimore 1,634,155.80 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  239 


THE  AUCTION  MONOPOLY. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March,  13, 1835.] 
THE  American  of  last  evening  does  us  the  honor  to  ad 
dress  its  leading  article  particularly  to  this  journal ;  and 
we  lay  aside  other  matters  of  pressing  importance  to  ex- 
tend  to  it  the  courtesy  of  an  immediate  reply.  With  re- 
gard  to  the  law  restraining  the  right  to  sell  by  auction, 
we  have  no  hesitation  to  state,  in  the  most  explicit  Ian- 
guage,  that  we  consider  it  unwise,  unjust,  at  variance 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government,  and 
constituting  a  monopoly,  not  merely  in  the  popular,  but 
in  the  strict  legal  sense  of  that  term.  Our  "  incessant 
assault  upon  monopolies,"  the  American  may  have  no 
ticed,  has  been  aimed  rather  against  general  principles 
than  particular  institutions.  When  we  have  adverted  to 
particular  institutions,  it  has  been  more  with  the  view  to 
illustrate  the  operation  of  general  principles,  than  to  give 
a  particular  direction  to  public  sentiment.  The  restrain- 
ing  law  in  regard  to  auctions  we  consider  quite  as  un 
sound  as  the  restraining  law  in  regard  to  banking; 
though  the  effect  of  restrictions  on  banking  are  more 
deeply  and  extensively  pernicious  than  those  on  auc 
tions.  We  earnestly  desire  the  repeal  of  both,  but  with 
this  difference :  the  first  we  would  repeal  immediately, 
while  the  latter  we  would  desire  to  see  maintained,  until 
certain  preliminary  measures  should  have  guarded  the 
public  against  those  evils  which  would  result  from  throw 
ing  banking  open  to  the  whole  community  in  the  present 
state  of  our  currency. 

This  answer  we  trust  the  American  will  find  sufficient 
ly  explicit,  so  far  as  the  auction  law  is  concerned.  But 
we  will  go  a  step  further,  and  advert  to  the  tax  which 
the  state  imposes  on  auction  sales.  We  look  upon  this 


240  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

tax  as  unequal,  unjust,  and  oppressive,  and  are  not  with 
out  strong  doubts  that  it  is  a  positive,  as  it  most  assured 
ly  is  a  virtual,  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  If  we  have  not  commented  on  this  subject  before, 
it  has  not  been  because  we  had  not  reflected  maturely  on 
it,  and  deliberately  formed  those  opinions  which  we  now 
express  ;  but  because  we  were  unwilling  to  waive  the 
discussion  of  general  principles,  for  the  sake  of  directing 
our  energies  against  a  single  and  not  the  most  important 
branch  of  the  subject  of  monopolies.  We  consider  it  a 
nobler  and  more  useful  object  to  strive  to  do  away  those 
false  notions  on  which  the  whole  system  of  restrictions 
and  exclusive  privileges  rest,  than  to  attack  particular 
abuses  in  detail.  We  have  striven  to  lay  the  axe  to  the 
root  of  the  tree,  not  to  cut  off  its  branches  one  by  one. 
If  the  trunk  perishes,  the  boughs  must  needs  wither. 

With  regard  to  the  complaints  which  the  American 
prefers  in  behalf  of  those  individual  auctioneers  whose 
commissions  have  not  been  renewed,  we  are  likewise  free 
to  state  that  if,  as  that  journal  avers,  they  have  been  re 
fused  a  renewal  of  their  commissions  for  no  other  reason 
than  "  because  they  are  not  for  Martin  Van  Buren  as 
President  of  the  United  States,"  Governor  Marcy  has  act 
ed  towards  them  in  a  most  prescriptive,  narrow,  and 
contemptible  spirit,  and  his  conduct  deserves  the  scorn 
of  all  honourable  men.  But  as  we  have  abundant  rea 
son  to  believe  that  Governor  Marcy  is  controlled  by  no 
such  spirit,  we  must  be  excused  from  yielding  entire  cre 
dit  to  the  assertion  of  the  American,  while  it  remains 
wholly  unsupported  by  proof,  particularly  as  it  is  wholly 
at  war  with  some  facts  which  are  within  our  own  posi 
tive  knowledge.  But  it  is  not  only  on  the  score  of  those 
to  whom  commissions  have  been  denied  that  the  Ameri 
can  finds  grounds  of  complaint ;  those  on  whom  they 
have  been  conferred  afford  equal  ground  of  censure. 


B 

WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  241 

Again  we  say,  if  the  statement  made  by  that  journal  is 
correct,  and  these  new  auctioneers  are  indeed  «  wretched 
political  retainers  and  hacks— men   without  credit,  and 
unworthy  of  it,"  Governor  Marcy,  by  appointing  them, 
has  entitled  himself  to  severer   reprehension  than  the 
American  expresses.     But  we  must  join  issue  on  the  fact. 
It  is  again  within  our  knowledge  that  the  American  is 
incorrect.     With  some  of  the  auctioneers  newly  appoint- 
ed  we  have  a  personal  acquaintance,  and  others  we  know 
well  through  the  representations  of  men  in  whom  we 
have  the  fullest   confidence  ;   and  we  must  take  leave  to 
say,  that  the  American  is  misinformed  as  to  their  charac 
ters,  and  does  those  men  cruel  injustice.     We  assert  with 
the  utmost  positiveness  that  in  every  moral  and  intellec 
tual  quality  they  are,  to  say  the  least,  quite  equal  to  those 
whose  places  they  have  been  appointed  to  fill ;   that  they 
are  as  honest,   respectable  and  capable,  and  we  do  not 
doubt  will  discharge   the  duties  of  auctioneers  quite  as 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  public  and  the  advantage 
of  the  state. 

The  American,  however,  in  bewailing  the  fate  of  the 
superceded  auctioneers,  and  pouring  its  scorn  on  the 
heads  of  their  successors,  quite  loses  sight  of  the  admir 
able  anti-monopoly  principles  with  which  it  commenced 
its  article.  That  journal  should  recollect  that  it  censur 
ed  the  auction  law  as  "  a  universal  abridgement  of  a  na 
tural  right  " — "  a  monopoly  injurious  and  unjust ;  "  and 
spoke  of  those  appointed  under  it  as  "  a  privileged  class 
created  at  once."  To  limit  their  tenure  then,  and  sub 
ject  them  to  the  operation  of  that  principle  of  equal 
rights  which  requires  rotation  in  office,  is  certainly  di 
minishing  the  odiousness  of  the  monopoly.  And  if  we 
must  have  privileged  classes,  we  ought  to  thank  Gover 
nor  Marcy  for  not  recognizing  their  pretensions  to  be 
privileged  for  life ;  but  by  requiring  them  to  return,  after 
VOL.  I.— 21 


I 

242  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

a  certain  term,  to  the  level  of  the  mass  of  the  people, 
reduce  the  evil  of  aristocratic  distinctions  as  near  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  republican  system  as  possible.  We 
agree  with  the  American  that  the  auction  law  creates  an 
odious  monopoly  ;  and  the  American  will  surely  agree 
with  us  that  to  give  "a  favoured  few"  a  perpetuity  of 
the  "  privileged  and  valuable  offices  "  created  by  that  law 
would  be  to  render  the  monopoly  more  exclusive  and 
unquestionable,  and  add  a  still  darker  hue  to  its  char 
acter. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  in  which  the  American 
must  permit  us  to  express  our  satisfaction  at  the  course 
pursued  by  Governor  Marcy ;  since  we  esteem  ourselves 
indebted  to  it  for  the  valuable  assistance  of  that  journal 
against  monopolies.  If  the  sympathies  of  the  American 
had  not  been  excited  by  the  non-renewal  of  the  "  valuable 
offices  "  of  certain  of  its  friends  of  the  privileged  class, 
and  its  disgust  provoked  by  those  offices  being  filled  with 
men  of  a  different  political  stamp,  it  is  impossible  to  say 
how  long  a  time  might  have  elapsed  before  that  paper 
would  have  discovered  that  the  auction  law  is  a  monopo 
ly  and  the  auctioneers  a  privileged  order. 

We  might  adduce  other  arguments  in  support  of  the 
course  Governor  Marcy  has  pursued ;  but  unwilling  to 
give  our  space  to  supererogative  disquisitions,  we  shall 
take  the  liberty  of  referring  the  American  to  its  own  for 
cible  approval  of  the  course  of  the  present  Whig  Com- 
mon  Council,  in  dismissing  the  democrats  whom,  on 
their  being  elected,  they  found  incumbents  of  the  various 
minor  municipal  offices. 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  243 


FREE  TRADE  POST  OFFICE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March  23, 1835.] 
THE  party  newspapers,  both  for  and  against  the  admi 
nistration,  contain,  every  now  and  then,  statements  ex- 
posing  individual  instances  of  gross  abuse  of  the  franking 
privilege.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  franking  pri 
vilege  is  a  prolific  source  of  many  of  those  evils  in  the 
Post-office  department  which  are  complained  of  on  all 
hands,  and  that  a  reformation  of  the  laws  on  this  subject 
is  very  innch  needed. 

It  is  but  a  few  days  since  we  had  occasion  to  mention 
a  circumstance  calculated  to  show  in  a  strong  light  the 
grievous  burdens  which  are  imposed  on  the  mails  by 
those  having  the  power  to  send  their  communications  free 
of  postage.  This  was  the  transmission,  from  Washing 
ton  to  Connecticut,  by  a  single  individual,  and  in  the 
course  of  three  days,  of  franked  packages,  weighing  in 
all  nearly  two  hundred  pounds !  These  packages  were 
said  to  be  made  up  of  the  majority  report  of  the  Post-of 
fice  committee  of  the  United  States  Senate,  exposing  the 
alleged  corruptions  of  the  Post-office  Department,  and 
were  doubtless  sent  into  Connecticut  at  this  particular 
time,  and  in  such  extraordinary  numbers,  for  the  purpose 
of  being  used  for  political  effect,  to  influence  the  result 
of  the  approaching  election  in  that  state. 

Though  this  particular  instance  exhibits,  perhaps,  a 
somewhat  unusual  excess  in  the  use  of  the  franking  privi 
lege,  it  is  a  fact  perfectly  notorious  that  similar  imposi 
tions  on  the  public  mails  are  daily  practised,  and  proba- 
bly  as  much  by  the  members  of  one  party  as  of  the  other. 
Post  masters,  as  well  as  members  of  Congress,  exercise  a 
most  unjustifiable  latitude  of  construction  in  the  use  of 
their  franking  privilege.  Not  only  communications  on 


244  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

the  business  of  their  office,  and  in  relation  to  their  own 
private  affairs,  are  sent  free  from  one  extremity  of  the 
country  to  another,  but  in  very  many  cases  they  seem  to 
act  as  the  general  agents  of  their  neighbourhood,  and 
employ  their  franking  privilege,  as  charity  does  its 
mantle,  to  cover  a  multitude  of  sins.  Many  particular 
agencies  seem  to  be  done  almost  entirely  through  the 
country  post-masters  at  the  expense  of  the  Government. 
Nothing  is  more  common,  for  example,  than  their  gratui 
tous  agency  between  the  subscribers  of  a  newspaper  and 
its  publishers.  We  believe  we  speak  within  bounds  when 
we  assert  that  full  one-half  of  the  country  subscribers  to 
the  Evening  Post  are  received  through  the  franked  let 
ters  of  village  post-masters.  They  forward  to  us  both 
the  names  of  subscribers  and  the  payment  for  the  paper. 
These  facts  abundantly  show  that  a  reform  of  the  frank 
ing  system  is  absolutely  needed. 

But  at  the  hazard  of  giving  a  new  occasion  for  the 
charge  of  ultraism  against  this  journal,  we  shall  take  the 
liberty  to  express  an  opinion,  which  we  have  long  enter 
tained,  that  the  source  of  the  evils  in  our  Post-office  sys 
tem  lies  far  too  deep  to  be  reached  by  any  regulation  or 
abridgement  of  the  franking  privilege,  or  even  by  its 
total  abolition.  It  lies  too  deep,  in  our  opinion,  also,  to 
be  reached  by  any  possible  organization  of  the  Post-of 
fice  Department  which  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  General 
Government  to  establish.  There  are  five  words  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  we  look  upon  as 
the  grand  primary  source  of  all  the  evils  of  which  the 
people  have  so  much  just  cause  to  complain  in  relation 
to  that  particular  department  of  the  Government.  We 
allude  to  the  clause  which  gives  to  Congress  the  power 
"  to  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads." 

These  words,  in  our  view  of  the  subject,  ought  never 
to  have  formed  a  part  of  the  Constitution.  They  confer 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  245 

a  power  on  the  General  Government  which  is  liable,  and 
almost  inevitably  subject,  to  the  grossest  political  abuse. 
The  abuse  is  one  which  will  necessarily  increase,  too, 
from  year  to  year,  as  population  increases  in  numbers 
and  spreads  over  a  wider  surface.  The  Post-office,  con- 
trolecl  and  directed  by  the  General  Government,  will 
always  be  conducted  with  a  vast  deal  of  unnecessary  ex 
pense,  and,  what  is  a  consideration  of  far  more  serious 
importance,  will  always  be  used,  to  a  greater  or  less  ex- 
tent,  as  a  political  machine. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  history  of  this  Union,  should 
it  stretch  out  far  ages,  will  ever  exhibit  to  the  admiration 
of  mankind  an  administration  under  the  guidance  of  a 
more  faithful,  energetic,  intrepid  and  patriotic  spirit, 
than  that  which  happily  now  rules  the  executive  councils 
of  the  nation.  Yet  even  under  the  administration  of  a 
man  whose  integrity  no  arts  can  corrupt,  whose  firmness 
no  difficulties  can  appal,  and  whose  vigilance  no  toils  can 
exhaust — even  under  the  administration  of  such  a  man, 
what  a  sickening  scene  does  the  mismanagement  of  the 
Post-office  not  present !  Remove  Mr.  Barry  and  ap 
point  another  in  his  place,  and  you  will  not  correct,  and 
most  likely  you  will  not  even  mitigate  the  evil.  Abolish 
the  franking  privilege,  and  the  essential  defects  of  the 
system  would  still  remain.  Re-organize  the  whole  de 
partment,  and  introduce  all  the  guards  and  checks  which 
legislative  ingenuity  can  devise,  and  still  you  will  not 
wholly  remove  the  imperfection.  The  Post-office  will 
still  be  a  government  machine,  cumbrous,  unwieldy,  and 
liable  to  the  worst  sorts  of  abuses. 

The  Post-office  is  established  by  the  Government  for 
the  purpose  of  facilitating  intercourse  by  letter  between 
distant  places.  But  personal  intercourse  between  distant 
places  is  as  necessary  as  epistolary,  though  not,  perhaps, 
to  the  same  degree.  Why  then  should  not  the  Govern. 
21* 


1 

246  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OP 

ment  take  upon  itself  the  support  and  regulation  of  facili 
ties  for  carrying  passengers  as  well  as  letters  from  place 
to  place  ?  The  transmission  of  packages  of  merchan 
dise  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another  is  no  less 
necessary,  than  intercourse  by  letter  or  person.  Why 
should  not  Government  go  a  step  further,  and  institute 
transportation  lines  for  the  conveyance  of  our  goods  ? 
But  we  shall  be  answered,  that  these  objects  may  safely 
be  left  to  the  laws  of  trade,  and  that  supply  will  keep  pace 
with  demand  in  these  matters  as  in  other  commercial  and 
social  wants  of  man.  Might  not  the  laws  of  trade,  and 
the  power  of  demand  to  produce  supply  through  the  ac 
tivity  of  private  enterprise,  be  safely  trusted  to,  also,  for 
the  carriage  of  letters  from  place  to  place  ? 

If  the  mail  establishment,  as  a  branch  of  the  United 
States  Government,  should  be  abolished  this  hour,  how 
long  would  it  be  before  private  enterprise  would  institute 
means  to  carry  our  letters  and  newspapers  from  city  to 
city,  with  as  much  regularity  as  they  are  now  carried, 
and  far  greater  speed  and  economy  ?  But  the  objection 
may  be  raised  that  inland  places  and  thinly  settled  por 
tions  of  the  country  would  suffer  by  such  an  arrange 
ment.  There  is  no  place  on  the  map  of  the  United 
States  which  would  not  soon  be  supplied  with  mail  faci 
lities  by  paying  what  they  were  worth,  and  if  it  gets 
them  for  less  now,  it  is  only  because  the  deficiency  is  le 
vied  from  the  inhabitants  of  some  other  place,  which  is 
contrary  to  the  plainest  principles  of  justice. 

There  are  very  many  considerations  which  might  be 
urged  in  favour  of  a  free  trade  mew  of  this  subject.  The 
curse  of  office  hunting,  which  is  an  incident  of  our  form 
of  Government,  and  is  exerting  every  year,  more  and 
more,  a  demoralizing  influence  on  the  people,  would  un 
dergo  a  check  and  rebatement  by  the  suggested  change. 
But  would  you  withdraw — some  one  may  ask — the  sti- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  247 

mulus  which  the  present  post-office  system  furnishes  to 
emigration,  by  extending  mail  routes  through  the  wilder 
ness,  and  thus  presenting  inducements  for  population  to 
gather  together  at  points  which  would  otherwise  remain 
unimproved  and  uninhabited   for  years?      To  this  we 
answer,  unequivocally,  yes.      We  would  withdraw    all 
Government  stimulants  ;  and  let  no  man  suppose  that  the 
progress  of  improvement  would   be  retarded  by  such  a 
withdrawal.       The  country  would  grow   from  year  to 
year,  notwithstanding,  as  rapidly  and  more  healthily  than 
now.     It  would  only  be  changing  the  hot-bed  system  to 
the  system  of  nature  and  reason.     It  would  be  disconti 
nuing  the  force-pump  method,  by  which  we  now  seek  to 
make  water  flow  up  hill,  and  leaving  it  to  flow  in  its  own 
natural  channels.     It  would  be  removing  the  high-pres- 
sure  application  of  Government  facilities  from  enterprise 
and  capital,  and  permitting  them   to  expand  themselves 
in  their  own  proper  field.     The  boundaries  of  population 
would  still  continually  enlarge,  circle  beyond  circle,  like 
spreading  rings  upon  the  water  ;    but  they  would  not  be 
forced  to  enlarge   this  way  and  that  way,  shooting  out 
into  strange  and   unnatural   irregularities,  as  it  might 
please  land  speculators,  through  the  agency  of  members 
of  Congress,  to  extend  mail  facilities  into  regions  which 
perhaps  God  and  nature  meant  should  remain  uninhabit 
ed  for  ages  to  come. 

There  are  various  other  points  of  view  in  which  the 
subject  deserves  to  be  considered.  But  we  must  reserve 
these  for  another  occasion. 


248  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 


STOCK  GAMBLING. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  March  25, 1835.] 
IN  the  bill  now  before  the  legislature  of  this  state  to 
regulate  the  sales  of  stocks  and  exchange,  we  behold  an 
other  beautiful  illustration  of  the  benefits  which  the  com 
munity  derive  from  our  wretched  system  of  special  and 
partial  legislation.  The  professed  object  of  this  bill  is  to 
prevent  stock-gambling  ;  and  stock-gambling,  according 
to  our  humble  opinion,  is  a  species  of  speculation  which 
our  law-givers,  by  the  whole  course  of  their  legislation 
for  years  past,  have  done  all  in  their  power  to  foster  and 
promote.  If  they  desire  now,  really  and  sincerely,  to  do 
away  with  the  evils  of  this  desperate  and  immoral  kind 
of  enterprise,  which  daily  displays  itself  to  a  frightful 
extent  in  Wall-street,  let  them  adopt  a  more  effectual 
method  than  that  proposed  by  the  bill  under  their  consi 
deration.  Let  them  address  their  efforts  to  correct  the 
cause  of  the  evil,  and  the  effect  will  be  sure  to  be  remov 
ed.  Let  them  apply  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  and 
the  branches  will  needs  wither,  when  the  source  from 
which  they  derive  their  nourishment  is  destroyed. 

The  whole  course  of  our  legislation,  in  regard  to  finan 
cial  matters,  has  had  a  direct  tendency  to  excite  a  fever 
ish  and  baneful  thirst  of  gain — gain  not  by  the  regular 
and  legitimate  operations  of  trade,  but  by  sudden  and 
hazardous  means.  Every  body  has  been  converted  into 
a  stock  speculator  by  our  laws.  Every  body  is  seeking 
to  obtain  a  charter  of  incorporation  for  some  purpose  or 
other,  in  order  that  he  may  take  his  place  among  the 
bulls  and  bears  of  the  stock-market,  and  play  his  hand  in 
the  desperate  game  of  Wall-street  brag.  What  is  the 
true  nature  of  the  spectacle  which  is  presented  to  the 
contemplation  of  sober-minded  men,  every  time  any  new 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  249 

company  of  scrip  gamblers  is  created  1  Do  we  not  see 
persons  not  worth  a  hundred  dollars  in  the  world,  running 
with  all  speed  to  put  in  their  claims  for  a  division  of  the 
stock persons  who  are  not  able  to  raise  even  the  instal 
ment  on  the  amount  of  stock  which  they  ask,  and  who, 
in  point  of  fact,  are  the  mere  agents  of  brokers  and  other 
speculators,  selling  the  use  of  their  names  for  a  certain 
rate  of  premium  per  share  on  the  division  of  stock  which 
may  be  awarded  to  them  ? 

A  gaming  spirit  has  infected  the  whole  community. 
This  spirit  is  the  offspring— the  deformed  and  bloated 
offspring — of  our  wretched  undemocratic  system  of  ex 
clusive  and  partial  legislation.  To  destroy  the  effect, 
and  leave  the  cause  untouched,  would  be  as  easy  a  task 
for  our  legislature,  as  to  restrain  an  impetuous  torrent 
while  you  yet  leave  wide  the  flood-gates  which  presented 
the  only  barrier  to  its  course.  The  legislature  might  pass 
a  law  commanding  the  stream  to  keep  within  certain 
limits  ;  but  we  doubt  if  its  waves  would  recede,  notwith 
standing  the  terrors  of  the  law — 

"  They  rolled  not  back  when  Canute  gave  command." 

It  is  time  the  legislature  made  the  discovery  that  there 
are  some  things  which  cannot  be  done  by  law.  They 
cannot  prevent  the  thunder  from  following  the  light 
ning's  flash,  however  carefully  they  may  word  their  sta 
tute,  or  whatever  penalty  they  may  affix  to  its  violation. 
They  cannot  change  the  whole  nature  of  man  by  any 
enactment.  We  doubt  very  much  whether  even  the 
famous  Blue  Laws  wholly  deterred  men  from  kissing  their 
wives  on  occasions,  particularly  in  the  first  part  of  their 
matrimonial  connexion  ;  nor  do  we  believe  they  prevent 
ed  beer  from  working  on  Sundays  during  the  season  of 
fermentation.  As  easy  would  it  be,  however,  to  effect 
such  objects  by  law,  as  to  repress  the  yearnings  of  cupi- 


250  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

dity  and  avarice,  or  stay  the  adventurous  spirit  of  wild 
speculation  which  has  been  excited,  by  the  penalties  of  a 
bill  to  regulate  the  sales  of  stock  and  exchange.  The 
whole  scope  and  tendency  of  all  the  rest  of  our  legisla 
tion  is  to  inflame  the  feverish  thirst  of  gain,  which  afflicts 
the  community  ;  and  how  vain,  how  worse  than  vain, 
while  our  law-makers  hold  up  the  lure  in  every  possible 
form  of  attraction  before  the  public,  to  bid  them,  shut 
their  eyes,  and  not  attempt  to  grasp  it ! 

As  to  the  particular  project  before  the  legislature,  if 
we  understand  its  provisions,  it  is  not  only  inadequate  to 
the  end  proposed,  but  unjust  in  its  bearing,  and  impolitic 
on  various  grounds.  It  proposes  to  destroy  the  use  of 
credit  in  the  transactions  of  the  stock-exchange,  which 
is  much  such  a  cure  for  the  evil  it  aims  to  abolish  as  am 
putation  of  the  leg  would  be  for  a  gouty  toe.  The  gout 
might  attack  the  other  foot,  or  the  stomach,  notwith 
standing  ;  nor  would  its  victim  be  more  able  to  resist  its 
influences  with  a  frame  weakened  by  the  barbarous  and 
uncalled  for  mutilation  he  had  suffered.  There  is  no 
earthly  reason  why  credit  should  not  be  used  in  the  pur 
chase  and  sale  of  stocks,  as  well  as  in  any  other  species 
of  traffic.  There  is  no  kind  of  business  intercourse 
which  may  not  be  made  the  means  of  gambling,  and 
were  it  even  within  the  competency  of  the  legislature  to 
check  the  public  propensity  to  traffic  on  speculative  con 
tingencies,  so  far  as  one  particular  species  of  business 
is  concerned,  the  ever  active  disposition  would  imme 
diately  indulge  itself  in  some  other  form  of  hazardous  and 
unreal  enterprise.  For  the  real  bonafide  transactions  in 
stock  and  exchange,  the  employment  of  credit  is  as  in 
trinsically  proper,  as  the  employment  of  credit  in  foreign 
commerce,  in  the  purchase  of  real  estate,  or  in  any  of 
the  various  modes  and  objects  of  human  dealing.  The 
legislature  might  as  well  pass  a  law  forbidding  the  citi- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  251 

zen  to  deal  or  credit  with  his  tailor,  hatter,  or  shoemaker, 
to  run  up  a  score  with  his  milkmen  or  baker,  or  postpone 
the  payment  for  his  newspaper,  as  to  fordid  a  man  to 
employ  his  legitimate  credit  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of 
stocks. 

The  mere  business  of  dealing  in  stocks  is  as  respecta 
ble  and  useful  as  most  others  :  the  crime  of  gambling  in 
stocks  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  wild  and  speculative 
spirit  which  springs  from  unsalutary  legislation.  When 
we  look  into  the  statute  books,  and  see  that  more  than 
two-thirds  of  all  the  laws  passed  in  our  state  are  for  the 
creation  of  specially  incorporated  joint-stock  companies  ; 
when  we  learn  that  two-thirds  of  these  joint-stock  com 
panies  were  created  originally,  not  with  strict  reference 
to  their  professed  ultimate  object,  but  for  purposes  of  in 
termediary  speculation  :  we  must  perceive  that  the  evil  to 
be  remedied  is  iri  the  legislature,  not  in  the  community  ; 
that  the  fountain  is  turbid  at  its  head,  and  that  it  will  be 
vain  and  foolish  to  attempt  to  purify  it  by  straining  the 
waters  of  a  distant  branch  through  a  clumsy,  filtering 
contrivance  of  the  laws. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  subject  which  it  is  impor 
tant  to  take.  By  abolishing  the  use  of  credit  in  stock 
operations,  you  would  not  abolish  stock-gambling,  but 
only  confine  it  to  the  more  wealthy  operators,  and  put 
additional  facilities  of  fortune  into  the  hands  already  fa 
voured  overmuch.  You  make  a  concession  to  the  spirit 
of  aristocracy.  You  lay  another  tribute  at  the  feet  of 
riches.  You  join  your  voice  in  its  exaltation.  You  ex 
clude  from  the  magic  circle  the  poor  man  whose  capital 
consisted  in  his  skill,  industry,  and  character  for  sagacity 
and  integrity,  and  you  give  it  to  the  millionary  to  lord  it 
there  alone,  as  if  his  gold  were  better  than  the  poor  man's 
blood. 

That  we  are  opposed  to  stock-gambling  and  gambling, 


252  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

in  all  its  forms,  we  need  not  say.  But  we  are  equally  op- 
posed  to  those  false  notions  of  Government  which  so  ex 
tensively  prevail  in  this  country,  and  which  seem  to  con 
sider  that  every  thing  is  to  be  done  by  law,  and  nothing 
by  common  sense  and  the  inevitable  operation  of  the  laws 
of  trade.  For  gambling,  public  opinion  is  the  great  and 
only  salutary  corrective.  If  it  cannot  be  suppressed  by 
the  for<;e  of  the  moral  sense  of  the  community,  it  cannot 
be  suppressed  by  statutes  and  edicts,  no  matter  how  com 
prehensive  their  terms,  or  how  heavy  their  penalties. 
We  have  our  laws  against  gambling  now,  yet  establish 
ments  fitly  denominated  hells  are  notoriously  conducted 
in  different  parts  of  the  city,  and  there  are  various  neigh 
bourhoods  where  the  dice-box  and  the  roulette  wheel  rat 
tle  and  clatter  all  night  long.  We  have  our  laws  against 
lotteries,  too,  yet  what  do  they  avail  1  The  history  of  a 
recent  instance  of  a  man  convicted  of  trafficking  in  the 
forbidden  pursuit  must  convince  any  mind  that  those 
laws  are  a  little  more  than  a  dead  letter.  And  such 
would  be  the  law  to  suppress  stock  operations  on  time. 
It  would  not  do  away  with  either  the  proper  or  improper 
part  of  the  business  ;  but  it  would  diminish  the  respecta 
bility  of  the  honest  and  prudent  dealer,  and  give  a  more 
desperate  character  to  the  reckless  adventurer. 


REGISTRATION  OF  VOTERS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  April  3,  1835.] 
THE  Veto  of  the  Mayor  of  this  city  on  the  proceedings 
of  the  Common  Council,  relative  to  the  proposed  law 
for  the  registering  of  voters,  was  confined,  we  under 
stand,  to  the  constitutional  objection,  and  did  not  object 
to  the  measure  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  competent 
for  the  municipal  legislature  to  take  any  steps  to  procure 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  253 

a  statute  at  all  changing  or  modifying  the  basis  of  the 
right  of  suffrage,  as  fixed  by  the  State  Convention.  We 
presume  Mr.  Lawrence  restricted  himself  to  the  consti 
tutional  argument,  and  pretermitted  the  other  ground  of 
objection,  because  the  first  afforded  abundant  justification 
of  the  course  he  pursued  in  declining  his  signature.  Had 
the  constitution,  however,  presented  no  impediment  to 
the  passing  of  such  a  law  as  the  Common  Council  pro 
posed,  it  might  still  be  a  matter  of  grave  consideration 
how  far  our  city  authorities  could,  consistently  with  their 
legitimate  functions  under  the  City  Charter,  take  part 
in  procuring  an  important  restriction  on  the  right  of  suf 
frage.  As  the  Mayor,  however,  has  not  touched  on  this 
topic  in  his  late  message  returning  to  the  Common  Coun 
cil  their  resolution  and  other  proceedings  in  relation  to 
the  registry  law,  we  shall  confine  our  attention,  in  the 
following  paragraphs,  to  a  consideration  of  the  constitu 
tional  question,  whether  the  legislature  has  or  has  not  the 
power  to  pass  such  a  law. 

In  the  Constitution  of  this  state,  as  adopted  by  the 
Convention  in  18*21,  the  first  section  of  the  second  article 
established  numerous  qualifications  for  voters.  The  right 
of  suffrage,  by  that  section,  was  extended  to  every  male 
citizen  of  the  age  of  twenty -one,  who  should  have  been 
an  inhabitant  of  the  state  for  twelve  months,  and  of  the 
town  or  county  where  he  offered  his  vote  six  months  next 
preceding  the  election  ;  provided,  he  had  paid  a  tax,  or 
was  by  law  exempted  from  taxation,  or  had  performed  mi 
litary  duty  in  the  state,  or  was  by  law  exempted  from 
military  duty,  or  had  laboured  on  the  highway,  or  paid 
an  equivalent  for  such  labour,  &c.  &c.  After  stating 
these  various  qualifications,  two  other  brief  sections  were 
added,  one  empowering  the  legislature  to  pass  laws  ex 
cluding  from  the  right  of  suffrage  persons  convicted  of  infa 
mous  crimes  ;  and  the  other  to  pass  laws  "  for  ascertaining 
VOL.  I.— 22 


254  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 

by  proper  proofs,  the  citizens  who  shall  be  entitled  to  the 
right  of  suffrage  hereby  established.^ 

It  is  under  this  last  clause  that  the  power  is  claimed 
for  the  legislature  to  pass  a  law  requiring  the  inhabitants 
of  this  city  to  register  their  names,  before  they  can  be 
entitled  to  vote  in  an  election.  Yet  that  the  power  con. 
ferred  by  the  clause  is  not  so  extensive,  must  be  perfect 
ly  apparent  to  all  who  will  take  the  pains  to  examine  the 
proceedings  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Consti 
tution.  It  was  intended  to  apply,  probably,  only  to  the 
qualifications  as  established  by  the  first  section  of  the 
second  article,  which,  as  they  were  numerous  and  some 
what  complex,  might  require  the  enactment  of  a  law  to 
provide  one  uniform  mode  of  proof.  If  this  was  so,  that 
clause  became  a  dead  letter,  when  the  qualifications  were 
stricken  out,  as  they  were  by  an  amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  in  1826. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Journal  of  the  Convention  contains 
abundant  proof  that  the  section,  empowering  the  legisla 
ture  to  pass  laws  for  ascertaining,  by  proper  proof,  the 
persons  entitled  to  suffrage  under  the  Constitution,  never 
conferred  the  power  of  passing  a  law  requiring  a  registry 
of  voters.  The  section,  as  originally  reported  to  the 
Convention,  by  "  the  Committee  appointed  to  consider 
the  right  of  suffrage,  and  the  qualifications  of  persons  to 
be  elected,"  was  in  the  following  words  : 

"  Laws  shall  be  made  for  ascertaining,  by  proper  proofs, 
the  citizens  who  shall  be  entitled  to  the  right  of  suffrage, 
hereby  established .  The  legislature  may  provide  by  law, 
that  a  register  of  all  citizens  entitled  to  the  right  of  suf 
frage,  in  every  town  and  ward,  shall  be  made  at  least 
twenty  days  before  any  election ;  and  may  provide,  that  no 
person  shall  vote  at  any  election,  who  shall  not  be  registered 
as  a  citizen  qualified  to  vote  at  such  election." 

On  the  eighth  of  October,  nearly  a  month  afterwards, 


WILLIAM     LBGGETT.  255 

and  when  the  subject  had  probably  received  the  mature 
consideration  of  every  member  of  the  Convention,  a  mo 
tion  was  offered  by  Mr.   Root,   "  to  strike  out  the  third 
section,  relating  to  a  registry  of  votes.1'     This  motion  un 
derwent  a  long  and  animated  discussion.     It  was  finally 
modified,  with  the  consent  of  the  mover,  by  excepting  the 
first  sentence,  and  extending  the  motion  to  strike  out 
only  to  the  residue  of  the  sentence — namely,  to  that  part 
which,  in  the  above  quotation,  we  have  printed  in  italics. 
But  in  permitting  the  first  sentence   to   stand,  it  was 
clearly  the  intention  of  the  Convention  that  the  power 
to  require  that  the  names  of  all  voters  should  be  register 
ed  should  not  be  conferred  on  the  legislature.     The  mo 
tion,  thus  amended,  passed  by  a  vote  of  60  to  48.     If  we 
adopt  the  generally  received  maxim,  which  was  eloquently 
enforced  by  Mr.  Madison  on  a  memorable  occasion,  that 
"  in  a  controverted  case,  the  meaning  of  the  parties  to  the 
instrument,  if  to  be  collected  by  reasonable  evidence,  should 
be  considered  a  proper  guide,"  there  can  be  no  doubt  or 
hesitation  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  stand  which  the  mayor 
has  taken  on  this  question  of  the  registry  of  voters.     But 
if  we  even  turn  our  backs  on  the  proceedings  of  the  Con 
vention,  and  insist  on  understanding  the   Constitution 
without  the  help  of  any  lights  not  furnished  by  its  own 
text,  still,  we  think,  an  answerable   argument  might  be 
maintained  against  the  constitutionality   of  the   power 
which  the  common  council  are  desirous  that  the  legisla 
ture  should  exercise.     We  may  embrace  some  other  op 
portunity  to  turn  our  attention  to  that  branch  of  the  dis 
cussion. 


256  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 


WEIGHMASTER  GENERAL. 

• '  -ii, 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  April  10,  1835.] 
THE  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Legislature  on 
Wednesday,  which  is  copied  into  our  paper  of  to-day, 
shows  to  our  readers  that  there  was  a  decided  majority 
in  the  Assembly  in  favour  of  the  bill  providing  for  the  ap 
pointment  of  a  Weighmaster  General  for  this  city,  with 
power  to  name  his  own  deputies.  This  measure  was 
passed  by  a  strict  party  vote  ;  and  for  the  sake  of  creat 
ing  another  office  to  be  supported  out  of  the  means  of  this 
overburdened  community,  those  members  of  the  legisla 
ture  who  were  elected  by  the  democracy,  and  call  them 
selves  democrats,  have  concurred  in  fastening  another 
shackle  on  the  limbs  of  trade. 

There  is  probably  not  one  man  in  our  legislature  so  to 
tally  destitute  of  all  knowledge  of  that  magnificeut  sci 
ence  which  is  revolutionizing  the  world,  as  not  to  be 
aware  that  the  bill  now  before  that  body  to  regulate  the 
weighing  of  merchandise,  is  an  indirect  tax  on  the  peo. 
pie,  is  a  violation  of  the  principle  of  equal  rights,  is  an 
other  link  in  that  chain  which  folly  and  cunning  have 
combined  to  fasten  on  the  body  politic,  and  by  which  the 
pupular  action  is  already  so  much  restrained,  that,  not- 
withstanding  we  enjoy  universal  suffrage,  our  elections, 
for  the  most  part,  are  rather  a  reflection  of  the  wishes  of 
the  banks  and  of  the  office-holders,  than  of  the  free,  un 
biassed  will  of  the  people.  The  effect  of  the  present  bill, 
besides  imposing  an  additional  tax  on  the  community, 
and  placing  harmful  checks  and  limitations  around  trade, 
will  be  to  institute  a  band  of  placemen  in  the  city,  who 
will  doubtless  endeavour  to  show  themselves  worthy  of 
their  hire  by  exerting  their  lungs  in  shouts  and  preans 
in  praise  of  those  to  whom  they  owe  their  situations. 


WILLIAM     LECGETT.  257 

To  a  certain  extent  exertions  of  this  kind  guide  the  course 
of  public  sentiment,  and  increase  its  force.  Independent, 
then,  of  the  politico.economical  objections  to  legislative 
interference  of  the  sort  now  under  consideration,  a  more 
momentous  objection  exists  in  the  fact  that  such  measures 
are  directly  calculated  to  place  government  on  a  basis 
other  than  that  of  the  spontaneous  sentiments  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  draw  a  cordon  of  placemen  around  it,  more  pow 
erful  than  the  lictors  and  praetorian  cohorts  which  hedg 
ed  in  the  abuses  and  corruptions  of  the  licentious  rulers 
of  Rome. 

Earnestly  did  we  hope  that  our  present  legislature,  in 
stead  of  rivetting  new  fetters  on  the  people,  would  have 
broken  and  cast  away  a  portion,  at  least,  of  those  disgrace 
ful  bonds  with  which  the  craft  and  ignorance  of  their 
predecessors  had  loaded  us.  But  the  fact  is  not  to  be  dis 
guised  that  our  legislature,  though  called  democratic,  and 
elected  by  democrats,  are  in  reality  anything  but  true 
friends  to  the  equal  rights  of  the  people.  They  represent 
banks,  insurance  companies,  railroads,  manufacturing  es 
tablishments,  high-salaried  officers,  inspectors  of  raw 
hides,  sole-leather,  beef,  pork,  tobacco,  flour,  rum,  wood, 
coal,  and,  in  short,  almost  every  necessary  and  comfort  of 
life.  To  state  this  more  briefly,  they  represent  mono 
polies  and  office-holders ;  and  no  wonder,  therefore,  that 
the  whole  course  of  their  legislation  is  at  the  expense  and 
to  the  detriment  of  the  people  at  large,  as  they  on  all 
hands  seem  to  be  considered  lawful  prey, 
22* 


258  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OP 


WEIGHMASTER  GENERAL. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  April  16,  1835.] 
IT  will  be  seen  by  the  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
legislature  yesterday  afternoon,  that  Governor  Marcy 
has  returned  to  the  Senate  the  bill  providing  for  the  ap. 
pointment  of  a  Weighmaster  General  for  this  city,  to- 
gether  with  his  objections  ;  that  the  bill  was  subsequent, 
ly  reconsidered  and  rejected,  one  person  only  dissenting, 
and  a  new  bill  for  the  same  purpose  as  the  former,  but 
framed  so  as  to  avoid  the  objections  stated  by  the  Gov 
ernor,  was  thereupon  introduced  by  Mr.  Macdonald. 
We  hope,  against  hope,  that  there  will  be  good  sense 
enough  in  the  legislature  to  defeat  this  new  attempt  to  im- 
pose  additional  fetters  on  the  body  politic.  We  perceive 
with  pleasure  that  Mr.  Young,  who  has  been  absent  for 
some  days  past  in  consequence  of  a  domestic  affliction, 
has  resumed  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  We  trust  he  may  be 
induced  to  exert  his  powerful  mind  in  exposing  the  true 
nature  and  utter  folly  of  the  proposed  law. 

The  real  motive  of  those  who  are  pushing  this  measure 
is  as  well  understood  in  this  city  as  in  Albany.  It  is  per 
fectly  well  known  here  that  the  object  is  to  create  an  office 
for  a  young  politician  from  this  city,  who,  for  several 
years  past,  has  been  an  active  partizan,  and  who,  during 
the  past  winter,  has  strenuously  represented  that  it  is  time 
he  had  his  reward.  We  have  not  the  slighest  objection 
that  the  individual  alluded  to  should  be  provided  with  an 
office ;  for  we  believe  he  is  quite  as  honest  and  capable 
as  nine.tenths  of  the  office  seekers,  and  have  no  doubt  that 
his  exertions  have  been  of  service  to  the  democratic  cause. 
But  we  have  objection  that  an  office  should  be  especially 
created  for  his  benefit,  one  for  which  there  is  not  the 
slightest  public  need,  which  would  operate  as  an  indirect 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  259 

tax  on  the  community,  and  would  present  another  and 
strong  impediment  in  the  way  of  that  total  emancipation 
of  trade  from  the  restrictions  and  impositions  which  have 
been  placed  upon  it  by  crafty  and  foolish  legislation. 

The  weighing  of  merchandise  is  a  matter  with  which 
legislation  has  nothing  to  do  :  the  laws  of  trade  would 
arrange  that  business  much  more  to  the  satisfaction  of 
all  parties  concerned  than  the  laws  of  the  state  can  ever 
do.  When  the  Government  has  supplied  its  citizens  with 
a  measure  of  value,  of  weight,  of  length,  and  of  quantity, 
it  has  done  all  in  the  way  of  measuring  which  properly 
belongs  to  Government.  All  your  inspectors,  your  gua- 
gers,  and  your  weighers,  after  that,  with  their  whole  host 
of  deputies  and  subalterns,  are  but  adscititious  contri 
vances  of  political  cunning,  to  provide  means  for  reward 
ing  those  who  assisted  in  its  elevation,  or  to  establish  a 
phalanx  to  guard  it  in  the  height  it  has  attained. 

It  was  our  hope  that  our  present  legislature— chosen 
under  so  distinct  an  expression  of  the  public  sentiment 
against  all  monopolies  and  all  infringements  of  the  princi 
ple  of  Equal  Rights — would  exert  themselves  to  do  away 
the  restrictions  on  trade  and  the  thousand  subtle  contri 
vances  for  indirectly  extorting  taxes  from  the  people  to 
support  useless  officers  ;  or  at  all  events  that  they  would 
not  add  to  the  number  of  those  impositions.  If  we  go  on 
for  many  years  to  come,  strengthening,  and  extending 
the  artificial  and  unequal  system  we  have  for  years  past 
been  building  up,  we  shall  at  length  find,  perhaps  too 
late,  that  we  have  erected  around  us  an  enormous,  unseem 
ly,  and  overshadowing  structure,  from  which  the  privi 
leged  orders  will  have  the  encircled  community  wholly  at 
their  control,  and  which  we  cannot  thope  to  demolish 
without  bringing  the  whole  fabric  down  with  ruin  on 
«iar  heads. 


260  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OP 


DIRECT  TAXATION. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  April  22,  1834.J 
No  reflecting  rnind  can  consider  the  mode  of  raising 
revenue  in  this  country  for  the  support  of  the  Govern 
ment,  in  connexion  with  the  great  principle  on  which 
that  Government  is  founded,  without  being  struck  with 
the  anomaly  it  presents.  The  fundamental  principle  of 
our  political  institutions  is  that  the  great  body  of  the  peo 
ple  are  honest  and  intelligent,  and  fully  capable  of  self, 
government.  Yet  so  little  confidence  is  really  felt  in 
their  virtue  and  intelligence,  that  we  dare  not  put  them 
to  the  test  of  asking  them,  openly  and  boldly,  to  contri 
bute,  each  according  to  his  means,  to  defray  the  necessary 
expenses  of  the  Government ;  but  resort,  instead,  to 
every  species  of  indirection  and  arbitrary  restriction  on 
trade.  This  is  true,  not  only  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  but  of  every  State  Government,  and  every  muni 
cipal  corporation.  The  General  Government  raises  its 
revenue  by  a  tax  on  foreign  commerce,  giving  rise  to 
the  necessity  of  a  fleet  of  revenue  vessels,  and  an  army 
of  revenue  officers.  The  State  Governments  raise 
their  funds  by  a  tax  on  auction  sales,  bonuses  on  banks, 
tolls  on  highways,  licenses,  excise,  &c.  The  municipal 
corporations  descend  a  step  in  this  prodigious  scale  of 
legislative  swindling,  and  derive  their  resources  from  im 
positions  on  grocers,  from  steamboat  and  stage-coach 
licenses,  and  from  a  tax  on  beef,  wood,  coal,  and  nearly 
every  prime  necessary  of  life.  This  whole  complicated 
system  is  invented  and  persevered  in  for  the  purpose  of 
deriving  the  expenses  of  Government  from  a  people 
whose  virtue  and  intelligence  constitute  the  avowed  basis 
of  our  institutions  !  What  an  absurdity  does  not  a  mere 
statement  of  the  fact  present  ? 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  261 

Has  any  citizen,  rich  or  poor,  the  least  idea  of  the 
amount  which  he  annually  pays  for  the  support  of  the 
government  ?  The  thing  is  impossible.  No  arithmeti 
cian,  not  even  Babbit  with  his  calculating  machine,  could 
compute  the  sum.  He  pays  a  tax  on  every  article  of 
clothing  he  wears,  on  every  morsel  of  food  he  eats,  on 
the  fuel  that  warms  him  in  winter,  on  the  light  which 
cheers  his  home  in  the  evening,  on  the  implements  of 
his  industry,  on  the  amusements  which  recreate  his 
leisure.  There  is  scarcely  an  article  produced  by  hu 
man  labour  or  ingenuity  which  does  not  bear  a  tax  for 
the  support  of  one  of  the  three  governments  under  which 
every  individual  lives. 

We  have  heretofore  expressed  the  hope,  and  most  cor 
dially  do  we  repeat  it,  that  the  day  will  yet  come  when 
we  shall  see  the  open  and  honest  system  of  direct  taxa 
tion  resorted  to.  It  is  the  only  democratic  system.  It 
is  the  only  method  of  taxation  by  which  the  people  can 
know  how  much  their  government  costs  them.  It  is  the 
only  method  which  does  not  give  the  lie  to  the  great 
principle  on  which  we  profess  to  have  established  all  our 
political  institutions.  It  is  the  only  method,  moreover, 
in  consonance  with  the  doctrines  of  that  magnificent 
science,  which,  the  twin-sister,  as  it  were,  of  democracy, 
is  destined  to  make  this  country  the  pride  and  wonder  of 
the  earth. 

There  are  many  evils  which  almost  necessarily  flow 
from  our  complicated  system  of  indirect  taxation. 
In  the  first  place,  taxes  fall  on  the  people  very  unequally. 
In  the  second  place,  it  gives  rise  to  the  creation  of  a  host 
of  useless  officers,  and  there  is  no  circumstance  which 
exercises  such  a  vitiating  and  demoralizing  influence  on 
politics,  as  the  converting  of  elections  into  a  strife  of 
opposite  parties  for  place  instead  of  principles.  Another 
bad  effect  of  the  system  is  that  it  strengthens  the  govern- 


262  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

ment  at  the  expense  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  induces 
it  to  extend  its  powers  to  objects  which  were  not  con- 
templated  in  its  original  institution,  and  renders  it  every 
year  less  and  less  subject  to  the  popular  will.  The  ten- 
dency  of  the  system  is  to  build  up  and  foster  monopolies 
of  various  kinds,  and  to  impose  all  sorts  of  restrictions 
on  those  pursuits  which  should  be  left  wholly  to  the  con 
trol  of  the  laws  of  trade.  We  are  well  satisfied,  and 
have  long  been  so,  that  the  only  way  to  preserve  econo 
my  in  government,  to  limit  it  to  its  legitimate  purposes, 
and  to  keep  aroused  the  necessary  degree  of  vigilance  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  is  by  having  that  government 
dependent  for  its  subsistence  on  a  direct  tax  on  property. 

If  the  fundamental  principle  of  democracy  is  not  a 
cheat  and  a  mockery,  a  mere  phrase  of  flattery,  invented 
to  gull  the  people — if  it  is  really  true  that  popular  intelli 
gence  and  virtue  are  the  true  source  of  all  political  power 
and  the  true  basis  of  Government — if  these  positions  are 
admitted,  we  can  conceive  no  possible  objection  to  a  sys 
tem  of  direct  taxation  which  at  all  counterbalances  any 
of  the  many  important  and  grave  considerations  that  may 
be  urged  in  its  favour. 

For  our  own  part,  we  profess  ourselves  to  be  democrats 
in  the  fullest  and  largest  sense  of  the  word.  We  are  for 
free  trade  and  equal  rights.  We  are  for  a  strictly  popu 
lar  Government.  We  have  none  of  those  fears,  which 
some  of  our  writers,  copying  the  slang  of  the  English 
aristocrats,  profess  to  entertain  of  an  "  unbalanced  de 
mocracy."  We  believe  when  government  in  this  coun 
try  shall  be  a  true  reflection  of  public  sentiment ;  when 
its  duties  shall  be  strictly  confined  to  its  only  legitimate 
ends,  the  equal  protection  of  the  whole  community  in 
life,  person,  and  property  ;  when  all  restrictions  on  trade 
shall  be  abolished,  and  when  the  funds  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  government  and  the  defence  of  the  country 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  263 

are  derived  directly  from  taxation  on  property — we  be- 
lieve  when  these  objects  are  brought  about,  we  shall  then 
present  to  the  admiration  of  the  world  a  nation  founded 
as  the  hills,  free  as  the  air,  and  prosperous  as  a  fruitful 
soil,  a  genial  climate,  and  industry,  enterprise,  temperance 
and  intelligence  can  render  us. 


STATE  PRISON  MONOPOLY. 

/  ''••'''. ' 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  April  28,  1835.] 
THE  legislature,  it  will  be  seen,  have  at  last  taken  up, 
in  good  earnest,  the  state  prison  question.  As  this  is  a 
subject  which  both  parties  have  tried  their  utmost  to  turn 
into  a  mere  political  gull-trap,  it  is  not  probable  that  any 
measure  will  be  finally  acted  upon,  before  members  have 
baited  the  trap  with  a  deal  of  mawkish  oratory,  and,  in 
so  doing,  expose,  most  thoroughly,  their  ignorance  of  the 
first  principles  of  political  economy. 

This  journal  has  never  said  much  in  relation  to  the 
state  prison  monopoly,  as  it  is  called,  because  a  degree  of 
importance  had  been  given  to  the  subject  entirely  dispro- 
portioned  to  its  real  merits,  and  demagogues  had  made  it 
the  theme  of  their  vehement  harangues,  until  an  excite 
ment  was  produced  among  the  mechanic  classes  so  strong 
and  general,  that  it  swallowed  up  almost  every  other 
question,  and  pervaded  almost  every  vocation.  We  are 
as  decidedly  opposed  to  the  principle  of  state  prison  la 
bour  as  any  person  can  be  ;  yet  we  believe  that  the 
practical  evil  of  the  present  system,  on  any  branch  of 
productive  industry,  is  exceedingly  trifling,  and  indeed 
almost  below  computation,  while  the  result  to  society  at 
large  is  decidedly  beneficial.  Nevertheless,  as  the  funda 
mental  principle  of  the  system  is,  in  our  view,  totally 


264 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OP 


erroneous,  we  have  never  hesitated  to  oppose  it  when  we 
deemed  that  the  occasion  called  on  us  to  speak. 

One  of  these  occasions  was  furnished  by  the  publication 
of  the  report  of  the  State  Prison  Commissioners,  which  was 
a  weak,  inaccurate,  shuffling  document,  and  was  the  more 
calculated  to  provoke  indignation,  as  one  of  its  authors 
is  well  known  to  have  ridden  himself  into  office  on  the 
hobby  of  the  state  prison  monopoly  question.  It  seemed 
to  us  a  barefaced  piece  of  treachery  for  this  person,  after 
having  won  the  suffrages  of  the  mechanics  by  the  in- 
cessant  and  superior  loudness  of  his  vociferation  against 
the  employment  of  convict  labour  in  competition  with 
honest  industry,  to  turn  round  and  immediately  present 
to  the  legislature  such  a  deceptive  hocus-pocus  report  as 
that  to  which  his  name  was  subscribed. 

The  suggestions  of  the  report  made  by  the  Commission, 
ers  have  been  embodied  in  the  bill  now  before  the  Assem 
bly-  By  this  plan  the  prisoners  are  to  be  employed  in 
branches  of  industry  not  yet  introduced  among  our  citi 
zens,  and  among  these  the  culture  and  manufacture  of 
silk  occupy  a  conspicuous  place.  We  are  surprised  that 
sensible  men  in  the  legislature  should  not  perceive  that 
in  principle,  it  is  the  same  thing  whether  the  convicts 
are  employed  in  callings  in  which  free  citizens  are  already 
engaged,  or  are  turned  to  others  to  which  free  citizens 
would  naturally  direct  their  attention  in  the  course  of  a 
short  time. 

The  question  of  the  state  prison  monopoly,  in  our  view, 
reduces  itself  to  this  :  it  is  the  exclusive  employment,  by 
Government,  of  a  labour-saving  machine,  in  competition 
with  a  certain  portion  of  citizens  who  have  no  such  ad 
vantage.  Has  Government  a  right  to  set  up  a  labour- 
saving  machine,  and  to  enter  into  competition  with  any 
class  of  its  citizens  in  any  pursuit  of  industry?  Govern- 
ment,  it  will  be  admitted,  is  instituted  for  the  equal  pro- 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  265 

tection  of  all,  in  person,  life,  and  property.  These  are 
its  only  legitimate  objects.  The  confinement  of  crimi 
nals,  so  as  to  restrain  them  from  perpetrating  their  outra 
ges  against  society,  is  an  object  in  which  all  are  equally 
interested.  The  support  of  them  in  confinement  is  a 
contingent  evil,  and  ought  to  be  borne  in  the  ratio  of 
benefit  conferred — that  is,  equally.  But  when  the  crimi 
nals  are  made  to  earn  their  own  support  by  manufactur 
ing  a  class  of  articles  which  a  certain  portion  of  citizens 
also  manufacture  for  their  livelihood,  it  is  obvious  that  a 
fundamental  principle  of  government  is  violated,  since 
equal  protection  is  no  longer  extended  to  all. 

But  the  political  economist  may  contend  that  the  evil 
in  this  case  is  but  temporary ;  that  the  supply  will  soon 
adjust  itself  to  the  demand ;  that  a  certain  number  of 
citizens,  driven  from  their  occupation  by  the  introduc 
tion  of  convict  competition,  will  only  be  obliged  to  turn 
themselves  to  other  branches  of  industry  ;  and  that  in  a 
short  time,  the  matter  equalizing  itself  through  all  the 
callings  of  active  life,  a  permanent  benefit  will  accrue  to 
society,  in  the  aggregate,  by  reason  of  the  increased  pro 
duction  and  diminished  price  of  all  the  articles  created 
by  human  labour. 

If  we  admit  this  statement  to  be  true,  is  it  not  at  best 
an  argument  in  favour  of  the  state  prison  system  on  the 
ground  that  all  is  well  that  ends  well  1  or  that  it  is  right 
to  do  evil  in  the  first  instance,  that  good  may  follow  ?  These 
are  principles  which  ought  never  to  be  countenanced  in 
our  system  of  political  ethics.  The  cardinal  object  of 
Government  is  the  equal  protection  of  all  citizens.  The 
moment  the  prisoner  is  set  to  work,  and  the  products  of 
his  labour  sold,  some  free  citizen  is  unequally  and  oppress 
ively  burdened.  If  this  citizen  is  induced  to  forsake  his 
now  overstocked  calling,  and  engage  in  some  other,  the 
competition  in  this  new  branch  will  operate  injuriously 
VOL.  I.— 23 


266  POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 

to  those  already  engaged  in  it ;  and  this  will  continue  to 
be  the  case,  though  in  a  gradually  diminishing  ratio, 
through  all  the  various  pursuits  of  active  industry,  until 
the  displaced  particles  of  society,  so  to  speak,  diffuse  them 
selves  evenly  over  the  entire  surface. 

The  aggregate  of  products  manufactured  by  convict 
labour  in  the  United  States  bears  so  small  a  proportion 
to  the  sum  of  the  products  of  free  labour,  that  the  practi 
cal  evil  of  state  prison  competition  on  any  mechanic  class 
is,  as  we  have  already  stated,  exceedingly  and  almost  in 
calculably  light.  The  final  result  of  all  labour-saving 
machinery  (and  the  operation  of  our  penitentiary  sys 
tem  is  precisely  analogous  with  that  of  such  a  machine) 
is  beneficial  to  society.  An  individual  citizen  has  a  per 
fect  right  to  introduce  labour-saving  machinery,  and 
however  hard  may  be  the  effect  temporarily  on  any  num 
ber  of  citizens,  the  good  of  the  greatest  number  is  im 
mediately  promoted,  and  eventually  the  good  of  all.  But 
when  a  state  government  sets  up  such  a  labour-saving 
machine,  it  oppresses  temporarily  a  class  of  citizens,  for 
the  immediate  benefit  of  the  rest,  and  though  the  whole 
community  will  be  eventually  benefitted,  the  state  has 
obviously,  to  produce  this  result,  violated  the  fundamental 
principle  of  equal  rights. 


STATE  PRISON  LABOUR. 

[From  the  Evening  Post  of  April  29,  1835.] 

THE  Albany  Argus  gives  the  following  outline  of  the 
bill  on  the  subject  of  state  prison  la  i .  ii  is  now  un. 

der  discussion  in  the  legislature  of  this  si  e  : 

"  The  bill  reported  by  Mr.  Wilkinson  from  the  majority 
provides  that  the  state  prisons  at  Auburn  and  Mount 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  267 

Pleasant  shall  each  be  under  the  direction  of  five  inspect, 
ors,  three  to  be  residents  of  those  places  respectively, 
who  shall  have  the  appointment  of  assistant  keepers  and 
all  other  powers  now  vested  in  them,  except  as  otherwise 
provided  by  the  bill.     After  prescribing  the  duties,  com 
pensation,  &c.,  of  the   inspectors,  chaplains,   assistant 
keepers,  &c.,  the  bill  provides  that  no  mechanical  trade 
shall  hereafter  be  taught  to  convicts  in  the  state  prisons, 
except  for  the  making  of  those  articles,  the  chief  supply  of 
which  for  the  consumption  of  the  country  is  imported  from 
foreign  countries — that  the  inspectors  shall  have  power 
to  employ  artizans  from  abroad  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
new  branches  of  business  in  the  prisons  which  are  not 
pursued  in  the  state — that  no  contract  for  the  services  of 
the  convicts  shall  be  made  for  a  longer  period  than  six 
months,  without  the  sanction  of  the  inspectors  at  a  regu 
lar  meeting,  that  two  months'  notice  of  the  time  and  place 
of  letting  such  contracts  shall  be  published  in  the  state 
paper  and  such  other  papers  (not  exceeding  four)  as  the 
inspectors  shall  direct — the  notice  to  specify  the  branch 
of  business  in  which  the  convicts  are  to  be  employed  and 
their  number  applied  for,  the  length  of  time  for  which  the 
contracts  are  to  be  made  (which  are  not  to  exceed  five 
years) ;    such   convicts    only    to  be    employed  in   such 
branches  of  business  which  chiefly  supply  domestic  con. 
sumption,  as  had  learned   that   particular  trade  before 
coming  to  the  prison.     Nothing  in  the  act  is  to  prevent 
the  teaching  of  mechanical  business  in  the  prisons  as  far 
as  may  be  necessary  to  fulfilling  existing  contracts  ;  but 
it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  inspectors  and  agents  to  avail 
themselves,  as  fast  as  the  interest  of  the  prisons  will  per 
mit,  of  every  opportunity  to  change  the  present  contracts, 
so  as  to  make  them  conform  to  the  principles  of  the  act, 
and  they  are  authorized  to  negotiate  with  the  present 
contractors,  for  the  abandonment  of  their  contracts,  at 


269 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OF 


such  times  and  on  such  terms  as  they  may  deem  proper. 
It  is  also  made  their  duty  to  cause  the  manufacture  of 
silk  goods,  from  cocoons,  to  be  introduced,  as  soon  as  it 
can  be  conveniently  done,  and  for  that  purpose,  to  pur- 
chase  as  well  cocoons  raised  in  the  country,  as  the  raw 
material  imported,  and  to  extend  such  business  as  fast  as 
in    their  opinion,  it    can   with   a  prospect  of  ultimate 
profit.      The  inspectors  and  agents  of  Mount  Pleasant 
Prison  are  also  directed  as  soon  as  practicable  to  cause  so 
much  of  the  state  farm  at  Sing  Sing,   as  they  may  think 
proper,  to  be  planted  with  and  applied  to  the  raising  of 
the  white  mulberry  tree,  and  other  approved  varieties,  to 
be  by  them  gratuitously  distributed  or  sold  at  moderate 
prices,  for  the  production  of  cocoons  and  the  manufac 
ture  of  silk.      The  agents  of  both  prisons  are  also  di 
rected  to  procure  a  supply  of  the  white  mulberry  seed, 
which  shall  be  furnished  gratuitously  to  the  keepers  and 
superintendents  of  the  several  county  poor  houses,  who 
shall  apply  for  it,  with  the  view  of  raising  mulberry  trees 
on  the  several  poor  house  farms." 

No  mechanical  trades,  according  to  this  bill,  are  here 
after  to  be  taught  the  prisoners  in  our  state  prisons,  ex 
cept  for  the  making  of  such  ai  tides  as  are  chiefly  im 
ported  from  other  countries.      The  ground  on  which  a 
change  in  our  penitentiary  system  is  asked  is,  that  it  is 
unjust  and  inconsistent  with  the  principle  of  equal  rights 
that  the  State  Government,  which  is  established  for  the 
equal  protection  of  the  whole  people,  should  become  the 
competitor  of  any  portion  of  the  people  in  their  lawful 
callings.       The  Government  being  established  f>r  the 
equal  protection  of  all,  it  is  proper  that  the  necessary  ex 
penses  of    hat  protection  should  be  equally  defrayed  by 
all,  in  the  proportion  of  their  several  means.     When  the 
expenses  are  defrayed  from  the  profits  of  prison  labour, 
the  burden  manifestly  falls  most  J.eavily  on  those  whom 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  269 

that  labour  competes  with  in  their  lawful  callings.     This 
would  be  true,  if  the   State  Government  came  into  the 
competition  only  on  equal  terms;  since  the  excess  of 
the  supply  over  the  demand  would  necessarily,  according 
to  the  invariable  operation  of  the  laws  of  trade,  occasion 
a  diminution  of  price,  and  consequently  of  profit  to  the 
free  citizen  whose  vocation  was  interfered  with  by  this 
degrading  rivalry.     But   it  is  true  in  a  more  striking 
manner  when  the  State  Government,  entering  into  com 
petition  with  any  portion  of  its  own  citizens,  employs 
facilities  of  which  it  enjoys  the  exclusive  use.     The  state 
prison  turned  into  a  mechanical  institute  is,  in  effect,  a 
labour-saving  machine,  for   the    labour    costs    nothing. 
All   beyond    the    cost  of   raw    materials    is   profit   to 
the  state.       The  state  can  therefore  well  afford  to  sell 
articles  of  prison  manufacture  at  a  price  which  would  not 
supply  the  free  mechanic  with  bread.     A  certain  number 
of  free  citizens  are  thus  necessarily  driven  from  their 
callings,  and  obliged  to  find  employment  in  others,  or  to 
depend  on  charity,  public  or  private,  for  their  support. 

We  have  admitted  that  though  this  is  a  grievous  tem 
porary  evil  to  a  few  persons,  it  operates  as  a  benefit  to 
the  community  at  large,  and  finally  to  the  very  calling 
which  was  at  first  interfered  with.     But  the  argument 
is  that  this  eventual  good  is  obtained  by   the  previous 
violation  of  a  fundamental  principle  of  democratic  govern, 
ment— the  great  principle  of  Equal  Rights.     The  extent 
of  the  evil,  be  it  greater  or  less,  does  not   change  the 
aspect  of  the  question.     If  the  equal  rights  of  one  citizen 
are   trampled  on  by  our  state  prison  system,  there   is 
ground  to  require  a  reformation  of  it :  if  the  profits  of  any 
class  of  mechanics  or  tradesmen  are  diminished,  though 
but  in  the  proportion  of  a  mill  on  the  dollar,  or  the  hun 
dred  dollars,  they  have  a  right  to  demand  redress.     Nay, 
we  go  further  :  it  not  merely  a  right,  but  a  duty  ;  for 
23* 


270 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 


if  you  once  admit  the  principle,  who  can  fortell  for  what 
evils  and  abuses  the  «  fatal  precedent"  may  not  plead  ? 

We  are  of  the  number  of  those  who  believe  that  the 
practical  evils  of  our  penitentiary  system  are  very  incon 
siderable  and  restricted,  and  the  practical  benefits  great 
and  widely  diffused.  Yet  we  are  opposed  to  that  system ; 
because  it  is  founded  on  a  violation  of  a  fundamental 
principle  of  our  Government.  We  do  not  perceive  that 
the  bill  now  before  the  legislature  does  away  this  objec 
tion.  It  lessens  the  practical  evil,  but  does  not  vary  the 
principle.  If  the  prisoners  are  to  be  turned  to  the  pro 
duction  of  articles  chiefly  imported  from  foreign  coun 
tries  ;  yet  as  long  as  some  portion  of  those  articles  is 
made  here,  certain  mechanic  classes,  however  small, 
would  experience  injurious  competition  from  a  Govern- 
ment  which  they  have  a  right  to  look  to  for  protection, 
not  for  opposition.  The  rights  of  a  small  class  of  me 
chanics  are  as  dear  to  them  as  are  those  of  the  most  nu 
merous  class  to  its  members.  But  there  is  another  class 
of  persons  besides  mechanics,  whose  equal  rights  the  pro. 
posed  measure  will  invade.  Those  citizens  whose  capi 
tal  and  enterprise  are  engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  im 
porters  of  the  articles  which  the  state  prisons  are  here 
after  to  be  set  to  work  to  manufacture,  the  retailers  who 
deal  with  them,  and  all  subsidiary  callings,  are  to  be  de 
ranged,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  by  the  proposed  bill. 
Here  still,  the  erroneous  principle,  which  is  the  only 
thing  in  the  question  worth  contending  about,  is  quite  as 
manifest  as  ever. 

There  is  one  thing  quite  certain  in  regard  to  this  mat 
ter  :  namely,  that  the  bill  now  under  discussion,  cannot 
become  a  law  without  a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  both 
houses  should  vote  in  its  favour.  Governor  Marcy  will 
veto  it.  On  this  point  there  is  no  room  for  doubt.  We 
have  before  us  a  statement  under  his  own  hand  tantamount 


WILLIAM    LEGGETT.  271 

to  such  a  declaration.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Ru- 
dolph  Snyder,  Chairman  of  the  Corresponding  Committee 
of  the  Convention  of  Mechanics  which  met  at  Utica  last 
autumn,  Governor  Marcy  says,  «  That  the  labour  of  con- 
victs  in  our  state  prisons,  as  now  conducted,  is  injurious 
to  several  branches  of  mechanical  business,  is  generally 
conceded,  and  the  only  diversity  of  opinion  on  the  sub 
ject  is  as  to  the  extent  of  the  injury  and  the  practicable 
means  of  removing  it.  The  evil  being  admitted,  it  is  the 
imperative  duty  of  the  legislature  to  apply  a  corrective,  and 
I  shall  exert  my  influence,  in  whatever  situation  I  may  be, 
in  favour  of  all  proper  measures  for  the  attainment  of  that 
end.  That  any  class  of  citizens  who  yield  obedience  to  the 
laws,  and  contribute  to  the  support  of  government,  should 
be  injured  by  the  means  used  for  the  punishment  of  male 
factors,  is  manifestly  unjust ;  a  system  of  prison  discipline 
which  necessarily  produces  such  a  result  is  clearly  wrong  ; 
and  a  government  which  sustains  it,  neglects  one  of  its 
obvious  duties,  the  duty  of  protecting  the  equal  rights  of 

all." 

Those  who  are  engaged  in  importing  the  articles  which 
it  is  proposed  that  prison  labour  shall  be  employed  in 
making  hereafter,  are  a  "  class  of  citizens  who  yield  obe 
dience  to  the  laws  and  contribute  to  support  the  govern 
ment  ;"  for  the  state  to  enter  into  competition  with  them 
in  their  business  and  undersell  them,  thus  either  forcing 
them  to  seek  some  other  employment  for  their  capital,  or 
to  be  content  with  diminished  profits,  would  obviously  be 
"  to  injure  them  by  the  means  used  for  the  punishment 
of  malefactors ;"  and  as  this  is  declared  by  Governor 
Marcy  to  be  "  manifestly  unjust,"  it  is  plain  that  the  bill 
must  receive  his  veto.  He  is  publicly  pledged  to  this 
course,  and  Governor  Marcy  is  not  a  man  to  violate  a 
pledge  or  shrink  from  a  duty. 


272 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 


THE  COURSE  OF  THE  EVENING  POST 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  May  18,  1835.] 
Saturday  last  was  the  semi-annual  dividend  day  of 
this  office.  It  is  presumed  that  a  majority  of  the  sub 
scribers  of  the  Evening  Post  feel  sufficient  interest  in  its 
prosperity  to  justify  our  adverting,  for  a  single  moment, 
and  in  the  most  general  terms,  to  the  private  affairs  of 
this  office.  It  is  with  satisfaction,  then,  we  have  it  in 
our  power  to  state,  that  the  business  of  our  establishment, 
during  the  past  six  months,  has  been  flourishing  and  pro- 
fitable,  and  was  never  more  thoroughly  and  soundly  pros- 
perous  than  at  the  present  moment.  The  number  of  sub 
scribers  to  our  journal  is  larger  than  at  any  previous  pe 
riod  ;  the  amount  received  for  advertising  is  undiminish- 
ed ;  and  the  total  receipts  of  the  establishment  greater 
than  they  ever  were  before, 

This  result  is  exceedingly  gratifying  to  us  for  consid 
erations  of  a  higher  kind  than  those  which  merely  relate 
to  the  success  of  our  private  business.  It  furnishes  us 
with  an  evidence  of  the  public  sentiment  in  relation  to 
those  cardinal  principles  of  democratic  government  which 
this  journal,  for  a  long  time  past,  has  laboured  zealously 
to  propagate  and  defend.  That  evidence  is  in  our  fa 
vour,  and  animates  us  to  fresh  exertions.  We  start 
afresh,  then,  from  this  resting-place  on  our  editorial  road, 
invigorated  with  renewed  confidence  of  ultimately  at 
taining  the  goal  for  which  we  strive,  the  reward  for  which 
we  toil,  the  victory  for  which  we  struggle — the  establish 
ment  of  the  great  principle  of  Equal  Rights  as,  in  all 
things,  the  perpetual  guide  and  invariable  rule  of  legisla 
tion. 

It  is  now  about  two  years  since  the  Evening  Post 

having  at  length  seen  successfully  accomplished  one  of 


WILLIAM     L  E  G  G  ETT. 


273 


the  great  objects  for  which  it  had  long  and  perseveringly 
striven,  namely,  the  principles  of  free-trade  in  respect  of 
our  foreign  commerce — turned  its  attention  to  a  kinder, 
ed  subject,  of  equal  magnitude,  in  our  domestic  policy, 
and  began  the  struggle  which  it  has  ever  since  maintain- 
ed  in  favour  of  the  principles  of  economic  science,  as  they 
relate  to  the  internal  and  local  legislation  of  the  country. 
We  had  long  seen  with  the  deepest  regret  that  the  demo 
cracy,  unmindful  of  the  fundamental  axiom  of  their  po 
litical  faith,  had  adopted  a  system  of  laws,  the  inevitable 
tendency  of  which  would  be  to  build  up  privileged  classes 
and  depress  the  great  body  of  the  community.  We  saw 
that  trade,  not  left  in  the  slightest  respect  to  the  salutary 
operation  of  its  own  laws,  had  been  tied  up  and  hamper 
ed  in  every  limb  and  muscle  by  arbitrary  and  unjust  stat 
utes  ;  that  these  restrictions  furnished  employment  for  an 
almost  innumerous  army  of  office-holders  ;  and  that  the 
phalanx  of  placemen  was  yearly  augmented  by  the  mul 
tiplication  of  unequal  and  oppressive  restrictions  and  pro 
hibitions  on  the  body  politic.  We  could  not  help  seeing, 
also,  that  this  multitude  of  unnecessary  public  offices,  to 
be  disposed  by  the  Government,  was  exercising  a  most 
vitiating  influence  on  politics,  and  was  constantly  de 
grading,  more  and  more,  what  should  be  a  conflict  of  un 
biassed  opinion,  into  an  angry  warfare  of  heated  and  sel 
fish  partisans,  struggling  for  place. 

But  besides  the  various  and  almost  countless  restric 
tions  on  trade,  for  the  support  of  a  useless  army  of  public 
stipendiaries,  we  saw  our  State  Governments  vieing  with 
each  other  in  dispensing  to  favoured  knots  of  citizens 
trading  privileges  and  immunities  which  were  withheld 
from  the  great  body  of  the  community.  And  to  such  an 
extent  was  this  partial  legislation  carried,  that  in  some 
nstances,  a  State  Government,  not  content  with  giving 
to  a  particular  set  of  men  valuable  exclusive  privileges, 


274  POLITICAL    WRITINGS    OF 

• 

to  endure  for  a  long  term  of  years,  also  pledged  the  pro- 
perty  of  the  whole  people,  as  the  security  for  funds  which 
it  raised,  to  lend  again,  on  easy  terms,  to  the  favoured 
few  it  had  already  elevated  into  a  privileged  order. 
These  things  seemed  to  us  to  be  so  palpable  a  violation 
of  the  plainest  principles  of  equal  justice,  that  we  felt  im 
peratively  called  upon  to  make  them  objects  of  attack. 

Of  all  the  privileges  which  the  States  were  lavishing  on 
sets  of  men,  however,  those  seemed  the  most  dangerous 
which  conferred  banking  powers  ;  authorized  them  to 
coin  a  worthless  substitute  for  gold  and  silver ;  to  circu 
late  it  as  real  money  ;  and  thus  enter  into  competition 
with  the  General  Government  of  the  United  States,  in 
one  of  the  highest  and  most  important  of  its  exclusive 
functions.  There  was  no  end  to  the  evils  and  disorders 
which  this  daring  violation  of  the  fundamental  principle 
of  democratic  doctrine  was  continually  occasioning.  It 
was  placing  the  measure  of  value  (the  most  important  of 
all  measures)  in  the  hands  of  speculators,  to  be  extended 
or  contracted  to  answer  their  own  selfish  views  or  the 
suggestions  of  their  folly.  It  was  subjecting  the  commu 
nity  to  continual  fluctuations  of  prices,  now  raising  every 
article  to  the  extremest  height  of  the  scale,  and  now  de 
pressing  it  to  the  bottom.  It  was  unsettling  the  founda 
tions  of  private  right,  diversifying  the  time  with  seasons 
of  preternatural  prosperity  and  severe  distress,  shaking 
public  faith,  exciting  a  spirit  of  wild  speculation,  and 
demoralizing  and  vitiating  the  whole  tone  of  popular  sen 
timent  and  character.  It  was  every  day  adding  to  the 
wealth  and  power  of  the  few  by  extortions  wrung  from 
the  hard  hands  of  toil  ;  and  every  day  increasing  the 
numbers  and  depressing  the  condition  of  the  labouring 
poor. 

This  was  the  state  of  things  to  reform  which,  after  the 
completion  of  the  tariff  compromise,  seemed  to  us  an  ob- 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  275 

ject  that  demanded  our  most  strenuous  efforts.     We  have 
consequently  sought  to  draw  public  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  great  principle  on  which  our  whole  system  of 
government  is  founded,  the  principle  of  Equal  Rights, 
has  been  grossly  departed  from.    We  have  sought  to  show 
them  that  all  legislative  restrictions  on  trade  operate  as 
unjust  and  unequal  taxes  on  the  people,  place  dangerous 
powers  in  the  hands  of  the   Government,  diminish  the 
efficiency  of  popular  suffrage,  and  render  it  more  diffi 
cult  for  popular  sentiment  to  work  salutary  reforms.  We 
have  sought  to  illustrate  the  radical  impropriety  of  all 
legislative  grants  of  exclusive  or  partial  privileges,  and 
the  peculiar  impropriety  and  various  evil  consequences 
of  exclusive  banking  privileges.      We  have  striven  to 
show  that  all  the  proper  and  legitimate  ends  of  Govern 
ment  interference  might  easily  be  accomplished  by  gen 
eral  laws,  of  equal  operation  on  all.      In  doing  this,  we 
necessarily  aroused  bitter  and  powerful  hostility.       We 
necessarily  assailed  the  interests  of  the  privileged  orders, 
and  endangered  the  schemes  of  those  who  were  seeking 
privileges.      We  combated  long  rooted  prejudices,  and 
aroused  selfish  passions.      In  the  midst  of  the  clamour 
which  our  opinions  provoked,  and  the  misrepresentations 
with  which  they  have  been  met,  to  find  that  our  journal 
has  not  merely  been  sustained,  but  raised  to  a  higher 
pitch  of  prosperity,  is  certainly  a  result  calculated  to 
afford  us  the  liveliest  pleasure,  independent  altogether  of 
considerations  of  private  gain.     We  look  on  it  as  a  man 
ifestation  that  the  great  body  of  the  democracy  are  true 
to  the  fundamental  principles  of  their  political  doctrine  ; 
that  they  are  opposed  to  all  legislation  which  violates  the 
equal  rights  of  the  community  ;    that  they  are  enemies  of 
those  aristocratic  institutions  which  bestow  privileges  on 
one  portion  of  society  that  are  withheld  from  the  others, 


276         POLITICAL  WRITINGS   OF 

and  tend  gradually  but  surely  to  change  the  whole  struc 
ture  of  our  system  of  Government. 

Animated  anew  by  this  gratifying  assurance  that  the 
people  approve  the  general  course  of  our  journal,  we  shall 
pursue  with  ardor  the  line  we  have  marked  out,  and  trust 
the  day  is  not  distant  when  the  doctrines  we  maintain 
will  become  the  governing  principles  of  our  party. 


CHARACTER  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  May  21, 1834.] 
THE  epithets,  Usurper  and  Tyrant,  have  been  freely 
bestowed  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States,  by 
grave  Senators,  in  the  course  of  debate.  If  he  is  a  usur 
per  and  a  tyrant,  it  is  right  the  people  should  be  inform, 
ed  of  it ;  though  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  angry 
use  of  these  opprobrious  terms  in  the  Senate  Chamber  is 
the  best  method  of  communicating  that  information. 
These  charges  are  of  the  most  momentous  import ;  and 
if  they  be  true,  it  must  be  easy  to  cite  the  acts  which 
justify  them.  The  history  of  the  eventful  life  of  Andrew 
Jackson,  from  his  boyhood  upwards — from  the  time 
when,  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  was  found  battling 
with  the  enemies  of  his  country,  to  the  present  hour, 
which  sees  him  engaged  in  a  not  less  important  struggle, 
and  with  an  equally  dangerous  foe — is  known  to  his 
countrymen.  His  course  has"  not  been  run  in  secret. 
His  deeds  have  not  been  done  by  stealth.  His  acts,  his 
motives,  his  ends,  are  all  known  :  which  one  is  it  that 
stamps  him  a  usurper  and  tyrant  ? 

He  has  filled  many  important  offices :  he  has  been  At. 

torney  General  of  the  south-western  Territory a  mem- 

ber  of  the  Convention  that  framed    the  Constitution  of 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  277 

Tennessee — a  Representative  of  that  state  in  Congress, 
first  in  one  house,  and  then  in  the  other — a  Judge  on  her 
supreme  bench — a  leader  of  the  army  of  his  country — 
and  finally  her  Chief  Magistrate,  elected,  and  re-elected, 
by  a  most  overwhelming  majority  of  the  free  suffrages 
of  his  fellow  citizens.  In  which  one  of  all  these  situations 
have  his  acts  proved  him  a  usurper  and  a  tyrant? 

Was  he  a  usurper  and  tyrant  when  he  fought  the  bat- 
ties  of  his  country  against  the  Indians  on  the  south-west. 
ern  frontier — that  dark  and  perilous  struggle,  when,  in 
addition  to  the  efforts  of  a  ferocious  and  formidable  foe, 
he  had  to  contend  with  famine,  sickness,  mutiny,  and 
every  ill  than  can  beset  a  discontented  and  undisciplined 
army,  which  he  conducted  notwithstanding,  with  an  un 
daunted  spirit,  to  a  glorious  result  ? 

Was  he  a  tyrant  and  usurper  at  Fort  Strother,  when, 
deserted  by  his  famishing  troops,  he  exclaimed,  "  If  only 
two  men  will  remain  with  me,  I  will  never  abandon  this 
post !"  Or  afterwards,  when  his  forces  broke  out  into 
open  mutiny,  and  moved  off  in  a  body  towards  their  homes, 
"he  seized  a  musket,  and  resting  it  on  the  neck  of  his 
horse,  (for  he  was  disabled  by  a  wound  from  the  use  of 
his  left  arm)  he  threw  himself  in  front  of  the  mutinous  co 
lumn,  and  declared  that  he  would  shoot  the  first  man 
who  should  venture  to  advance  ?" 

Was  he  a  tyrant  and  usurper  at  New  Orleans,  when  his 
military  achievements  furnished  the  incidents  of  one  of 
the  brightest  pages  in  our  history  ?  and  where  his  hon 
ourable  and  courteous  conduct  is  attested  in  warm  terms 
by  his  foes  ? 

Was  he  a  tyrant  and  usurper  when,  dragged  before  a 
court,  and  fined  for  those  very  acts  which  had  secured 
the  safety  of  New  Orleans,  he  bowed  with  proud  submis 
sion  to  the  decree,  and  interposed  his  own  influence — the 
only  influence  that  could  have  availed — to  repress  the  in- 
VOL.  I.— 24 


278  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      O¥ 

dignation  of  his  countrymen,  and  induce  them  to  respect, 
as  he  did,  the  decisions  of  a  competent  legal  tribunal,  how 
ever  arbitrary  and  unjust  ? 

Was  he  a  tyrant  and  usurper  in  those  acts  of  his  ad 
ministration  which  have  resulted  in  such  a  successful 
and  advantageous  termination  of  the  long  pending  nego 
tiations  between  our  Government  and  foreign  powers  ? 
Or,  on  his  being  chosen  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation, 
was  rt  tyranny  and  usurpation  to  recommend  that  the 
constitution  should  be  so  altered  as  to  make  any  Presi 
dent  ineligible  for  more  than  one  term,  in  order  that  there 
might  be  greater  security  that  the  measures  of  the  exe 
cutive  would  always  be  devised  with  single  reference  to 
the  good  of  the  People  and  his  own  permanent  glory  ? 

Was  he  a  tyrant  and  usurper  in  recommending  that 
an  ample  district  of  country  in  the  far  west  should  be 
given  to  the  poor  Indians  who  were  discontented  with 
their  situation  within  the  limits  of  Georgia  ?  Was  he  a 
tyrant  and  usurper  in  the  noble  stand  which  he  took  in 
preservation  of  the  Union  against  the  mad  assaults  of  a 
faction  at  the  South  ? 

Was  his  refusal  to  sanction  unconstitutional  schemes 
of  internal  improvement  usurpation  and  tyranny  ?  or  his 
conciliatory  recommendations  with  regard  to  the  oppres 
sive  tariff?  What  single  act  of  General  Jackson's,  in 
short,  deserves  so  foul  a  name  ? 

Was  the  removal  of  Mr.  Duane  usurpation  ?  Surely 
not,  for  no  one,  at  this  time  of  day,  will  risk  his  reputa 
tion  by  asserting  that  the  President  has  not  unlimited 
constitutional  power  of  removal.  Was  the  removal  of 
the  deposites  by  Mr.  Duane's  successor  usurpation  1 
Surely  not,  for  the  power  was  expressly  reserved  to  him 
in  the  charter  of  the  United  States  Bank.  Where  then, 
again  we  ask,  is  the  evidence  of  General  Jackson's  tyran 
ny  and  usurpation  ?  If  he  is  a  usurper,  he  is  the  strangest, 


WILLIAM    LJ2GGETT. 

the  most  anomalous  one  that  ever  drew  the  breath  of 
life.     A  usurper  has  hitherto  been  considered  one  who 
seizes  that  to  which  he  has  no  right ;  but  if  the  term  is  to 
be  applied  to  General  Jackson,  it  must  undergo  a  wide 
change  of  meaning,  since  all  his   usurpations  are  com 
mitted  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution.      We  defy- 
any  adversary  of  that   noble  and  heroic  patriot  to  cite  a 
single   act  of  his  administration  that  violates,  in   the 
slightest  degree,  a  single  provision  in  the  Constitution  of 
his  country.     He  is  a  usurper  then  of  the  power  with 
which  he  was  already  clothed  by  the  unbought  suffrages 
of  a  nation  of  freemen— he  seized  what  he  already  law- 
fully    possessed — he  is  a   tyrant,  because  he   discharges 
those  duties  which  the  people  imposed  upon  him  when 
"they  raised  him  to  the  Chief  Magistracy— he  is  a  despot 
who  shows  his   own  indomitable   will  by  scrupulously 
obeying  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  !     Well  would  it 
have  been  for  mankind  if  all  tyrants  and  usurpers  had 
confined  themselves  within  similar  limits  ! 

But  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  character  of  those 
who  lavish  these  hard  epithets  on  General  Jackson.     Is 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  entirely  above  the  liabi 
lity  to  have  these  charges  retorted  upon  itself  ?     Was  it 
not  a  member  of  that  body  who  declared  that  he  never 
would  consent  to  an  adjournment  till  a  national  bank  was 
established  and  the  deposites  restored  ?     And  is  there  not 
something  that  savours  of  tyranny  and  usurpation  in  this 
coercive  threat,  intended  to  control  the  action  of  a  co 
ordinate  and  independent   department  of  the  Govern- 
ment  ?     Was  it  not  that  body  that  rejected  the  nomina 
tion  of  certain  persons  as  directors  to  represent  the  gov 
ernment  in  the  board  of  the  United  States  Bank,  because, 
in  pursuance  of  what  they  deemed  their  duty,  they  had 
reported  the  mal-practices  and   corruptions  of  that  insti 
tution  to  the  Executive?     And  was  there  no  tyranny 


280  POLITICAL    WRITINGS     OF 

and  usurpation  in  this  ?     Again,  did  not  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  in  defiance  of  the  rights  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  as  secured  by  the  Constitution,  in  violation 
of  their  own  oaths  to  obey  that  instrument,  and  in  mani 
fest  infringement  of  those  inalienable  rights  which  belong 
to  every  American  citizen,  condemn  the  President  of  the 
United  States  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  without 
a  trial,  and  without  a  hearing  ?     And  when  that  aged 
and  venerable  man,  whose  whole  life  has  been  spent  in 
the  service  of  his  country  ;  whose  bosom  is  scarred  with 
the  wounds  he  has  received  in  its  defence  ;   who  stands 
alone  of  all  his  family,  having  seen  his  brothers   shed 
their  lives  for  that  freedom  he  has  done  so  much  to  pre 
serve,  and  his  wife  sink  into  the   grave  the  mark  of  vile 
political  slanderers — when  that  aged  and  venerable  man, 
thus  unjustly  sentenced,  and  stung  to  the  quick  that  his 
conduct  should  be  thus  maligned,  respectfully  asked  that 
his  solemn  protest  against  the  decision  of  the  Senate 
might  be  entered  on  their  journal  along  with  the  condem 
nation,  was  he  not  refused — refused  with  added  insult  ? 
And  was  this  conduct  not  usurpation  and  tyranny  ? 

Verily,  a  factious  Senate,  the  majority  of  which  is  com 
posed  of  desperate  political  leaders,  united  by  no  common 
tie  but  that  of  hate  to  the  war-worn  hero  who  presides  at 
the  helm  of  state — governed  by  no  common  motive  but 
indomitable  ambition — verily,  such  a  body  is  a  fit  source 
for  such  aspersions  on  the  character  of  the  man  who  has 
filled  the  measure  of  his  country's  glory. 


WILLIAM     L  EGGE  TT 


281 


DESPOTISM  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  May  22, 1834.] 
HITHERTO  despotism  has  assuredly  been  considered  as 
the  concentration  of  all  power  in  one  man,  or  in  a  few 
privileged  persons,  and  its  appropriate  exercise  the  op- 
pression  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people.  But  the 
Presidential  Bank  candidates  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  bribed  tools  of  the  Bank  who  preside  over 
the  Bank  presses,  have  lately  discovered,  or  rather  in- 
vented,  an  entire  new  species  of  despotism.  They  have 
found  oufc  that  pure  republican  despotism  consists  in  ad. 
ministering  the  Constitution  and  laws  with  an  express 
reference  to,  and  entirely  for,  the  benefit  of  the  people  at 
large. 

If  we  examine  the  whole  course  of  that  extraordinary 
despot,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  very  essence  of  his  usurpation  consists  in 
interpreting  the  Constitution,  and  administering  the  laws, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  many  instead  of  the  few.  This  is 
the  true  character  of  his  despotism,  and  for  this  is  he  de 
nounced  by  those  who  wish  to  free  the  people  frona  this 
original  and  extraordinary  tyranny,  by  reversing  the 
picture,  and  placing  the  rights  and  interest  of  the  many 
at  the  mercy  of  the  few.  In  order  more  clearly  to  exem 
plify  the  character  of  General  Jackson's  despotism,  we 
will  pass  in  brief  review  the  prominent  acts  of  his  ad- 
ministration. 

If  we  comprehend  the  nature  and  principles  of  a  free 
government,  it  consists  in  the  guaranty  of  EQUAL 
RIGHTS  to  all  free  citizens.  We  know  of  no  other  defi 
nition  of  liberty  than  this.  Liberty  is,  in  short,  nothing 
more  than  the  total  absence  of  all  MONOPOLIES  of  all 
kinds,  whether  of  rank,  wealth,  or  privilege.  When  Gen- 
24* 


282  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OP 

eral  Jackson  was  elected  by  a  large  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States  to  the  first  office  in  their  gift, 
he  found  in  successful  operation  a  system  calculated,  if 
not  intended,  to  sap  the  whole  fabric  of  equal  rights,  be« 
cause  it  consisted  of  little  else  than  monopolies,  eithel 
open  and  palpable,  or  in  some  flimsy  disguise  or  other 
calculated  to  cheat  the  people  into  a  quiet  acquiescence. 

The  first  was  an  oppressive  tariff,  a  system  of  bounties 
in  disguise,  under  the  operation  of  which  the  consumers 
of  domestic  manufactures  were  obliged  to  pay  from  twenty- 
five  to  two  hundred  per  cent,  more  for  certain  indispen 
sable  articles  of  consumption  than  he  would  have  paid 
had  things  been  suffered  to  take  their  natural  course. 
The  consumers  of  an  article  always  constitute  a  much 
greater  number  of  the  people  than  the  manufacturers, 
simply  because  one  man  can  supply  the  wants  of  many. 
Hence  this  bounty  was  a  device  to  tax  the  many  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few.  It  operated  exclusively  in  favour  of 
the  smaller  class,  and  exclusively  against  the  most  nu 
merous.  It  was,  therefore,  not  only  destructive  of  the 
principle  of  EQUAL  RIGHTS,  but  it  was  a  sacrifice  of  the 
rights  of  a  great  majority  in  behalf  of  a  small  minority. 

The  first  act  of  General  Jackson  was  to  set  his  face 
against  this  anti-republican  principle  of  protecting  one 
class  of  labour  at  the  expense  of  the  others.  He  made 
use  of  his  personal  and  political  influence  to  bring  down 
the  rate  of  duties  on  importations  to  their  proper  stand 
ard,  namely,  the  wants  of  the  government,  in  which  all 
were  equally  concerned;  and  that  influence,  aided  by 
the  good  sense  of  the  people,  was  on  the  point  of  being 
successful,  when,  by  a  juggle  between  Messrs.  Clay  and 
Calhoun,  the  measure  was  transferred  to  the  Senate. 
That  body  passed  a  bill  similar  to  one  on  the  eve  of  pass 
ing  the  House  'of  Representatives,  which  was  sent  to  the 
latter  as  an  amendment  to  their  own  bill,  and  adopted 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  283 

with  wonderful  docility.  The  object  of  this  most  excel- 
lent  legerdemain  was  to  give  to  Messrs.  Clay  and  Cal- 
houn  the  credit  of  an  adjustment  of  the  tariff,  which  but 
for  General  Jackson  would  have  remained  a  subject  of 
heart  burning  and  contention,  in  all  probability  to  this 
day.  By  this  notorious  assumption  Mr.  Clay  sought  to 
gain  credit  for  his  disinterestedly  sacrificing  his  friends 
on  the  altar  of  Union,  while  Mr.  Calhoun  was  delighted 
with  so  capital  an  excuse  for  postponing  his  plan  of 
nullification  to  a  more  favourable  opportunity.  It  was 
a  cunning  manoeuvre ;  but,  cunning  is  not  wisdom,  any 
more  than  paper  money  is  gold.  Notwithstanding  the 
absurd  pretensions  of  these  two  gentlemen  to  the  honour 
of  adjusting  the  tariff,  there  is  probably  not  a  rational 
man  in  the  United  States  who  is  not  satisfied  that  the 
real  pacificator  was  GeneralJackson,  and  that  Mr.  Clay 
only  assented  to  what  he  could  not  prevent.  He  found 
the  current  going  strongly  against  him,  and  was  nothing 
more  than  honest  King  Log,  floating  with  the  tide. 

This  was  General  Jackson's  first  act  of  despotism. 
He  interfered  to  relieve  the  many  from  those  burthens 
which  had  been  imposed  on  them  for  the  benefit  of  the 
few ;  he  restored,  in  this  instance,  the  EQUAL  RIGHTS 
of  all,  and  for  this  he  is  denounced  a  despot  and  usurper. 
When  General  Jackson  came  into  office  he  found 
another  system  in  operation,  calculated  not  only  to  un 
dermine  and  destroy  the  principles  and  independence  of 
the  people,  but  to  trench  upon  the  sacred  republican 
doctrine  of  EQUAL  RIGHTS.  We  allude  to  Mr.  Clay's 
other  grand  lever  by  the  aid  of  which  he  hoped  to  raise 
his  heavy  momentum  to  the  height  of  his  lofty  ambition 

his  system  of  national  internal  improvement.     Besides 

the  constitutional  difficulty  arising  from  the  necessary 
interference  with  state  jurisdictions,  there  were  other 
powerful  objections  to  this  system.  It  placed  the  whole 


284  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

revenues  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  at  the  dispo 
sal  of  Congress,  for  purposes  of  political  influence.  It 
enabled  ambitious  politicians  to  buy  up  a  township  with 
a  new  bridge  ;  a  district  with  a  road,  and  a  state  with  a 
canal.  It  gave  to  the  General  Government  an  irresisti 
ble  power  over  the  elections  of  the  states,  and  constituted 
the  very  basis  of  consolidation.  In  addition  to  all  this, 
it  was  a  direct  and  palpable  encroachment  on  the  equal 
rights  of  the  citizens.  It  was  taxing  one  state  for  the 
exclusive  benefit  of  another  ;  nay,  it  was  diverting  money 
contributed  by  one  state  to  purposes  injurious  to  the  in 
terests  of  that  state.  It  was  appropriating  the  funds 
contributed  by  New-York  for  the  general  benefit,  to  the 
Ohio  and  Chesapeake  Canal,  the  successful  completion 
of  which  it  was  boasted  would  be  highly  injurious  to  her 
own  internal  navigation.  In  short,  it  was  a  system  of 
favouritism  entirely  destructive  to  EQUAL  RIGHTS,  inas 
much  as  it  was  entirely  impossible  that  all  should  partake 
equally  in  its  benefits,  while  all  were  taxed  equally  for  its 
expenditures. 

To  test  the  firmness  of  the  old  patriot,  the  great  cham 
pion  of  EQUAL  RIGHTS,  a  bill  was  concocted  by  the  com 
bined  ingenuity  of  the  advocates  of  internal  improvement, 
combining  such  powerful  temptations,  and  appealing  to 
so  many  sectional  interests,  that  it  was  hoped  General 
Jackson  either  would  not  dare  to  interpose  his  constitu 
tional  prerogative  to  arrest  its  passage,  or  that  if  he  did, 
the  consequences  would  be  fatal  to  his  popularity.  But  the 
old  patriot  was  not  to  be  frightened  from  his  duty,  and  be 
sides  has  a  generous  confidence  in  the  intelligence  and 
integrity  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  knows  by  glorious 
experience  that  the  true  way  to  the  affections  and  confi 
dence  of  a  free  and  enlightened  people,  is  to  stand  forth 
in  defence  of  the  EQUAL  RIGHTS  of  all.  He  vetoed  this 
great  bribery  bill  and  the  people  honoured  his  firmness, 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT.  285 

and  sustained  him  in  the  great  effort  he  had  made  in 
their  behalf.  This  is  the  second  great  usurpation  of 
General  Jackson,  and  the  second  great  example  of  his 
despotism.  He  interposed  to  protect  the  people  from  a 
system  which  afforded  a  pretext  for  applying  the  means 
of  the  many  to  the  purposes  of  the  few,  and  furnished 
almost  unbounded  resources  for  corrupting  the  people 
with  their  own  money. 

We  shall  continue  the  history  of  the  despotism  of  An- 
drew  Jackson  in  our  paper  of  to-morrow. 


DESPOTISM  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  May  23, 1834.] 
THE  next  text  on  which  the  Bank  coalition  have  rung 
the  changes  of  «  tyranny,"  "  despot,"  and  "  usurper,"  is 
the  veto  on  Mr.  Clay's  bill  for  distributing  the  public 
lands  among  the  respective  states.  The  people  should 
understand  that  these  lands  are  their  exclusive  property. 
They  contribute  a  general  source  of  revenue  common 
and  equal  to  all.  But  the  bill  of  Mr.  Clay,  no  doubt  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  the  popularity  of  that  permanent 
candidate  for  national  honours  in  the  west,  established  a 
distinction  in  favour  of  certain  states,  of  either  twelve  or 
fifteen  per  cent.— we  cannot  just  now  be  certain  which — 
on  the  plea  that  a  large  portion  of  these  lands  were  within 
their  limits,  although  they  were  the  property  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States. 

General  Jackson  justly  considered  this  preference  of 
certain  states  over  others  as  not  only  unconstitutional, 
but  unjust,  and  for  these  and  other  cogent  reasons,  to 
which  the  coalition  has  never  been  able  to  fabricate  an 
|  answer,  declined  to  sanction  the  bill.  Here,  as  in  every 
other  act  of  his  administration,  he  stood  forward  the 


286       POLITICAL  WRITINGS  OP 

champion  of  the  EQUAL  RIGHTS  of  the  people,  in  opposing 
an  unequal  distribution  of  their  common  property.  Yet 
for  this,  among  other  acts  equally  in  defence  or  vindica 
tion  of  these  rights  it  has  been  thundered  forth  to  the  people 
that  he  is  a  tyrant  and  usurper. 

But  it  is  in  relation  to  his  course  with  regard  to  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  that  he  appears  most  em 
phatically  as  the  champion  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
EQUAL  RIGHTS  of  the  people.  Fully  aware  of  the  great 
truth,  that  monopolies,  whether  of  rank  or  privilege, 
whether  possessed  by  virtue  of  hereditary  descent  or  con 
ferred  by  legislative  folly  or  legislative  corruption,  were 
the  most  sly  and  dangerous  enemies  to  equal  rights  ever 
devised  by  the  cunning  of  avarice  or  the  wiles  of  ambi 
tion,  he  saw  in  the  vast  accumulation  of  power  in  that 
institution,  and  its  evident  disposition  to  exercise,  as  well 
as  perpetuate  it,  the  elements  of  destruction  to  the  free 
dom  of  the  people  and  the  independence  of  their  govern 
ment.  He,  therefore,  with  the  spirit  and  firmness  be 
coming  his  character  and  station  as  the  ruler  of  a  free 
people,  determined  to  exercise  his  constitutional  preroga 
tive  in  arresting  its  usurpations,  and  preventing  their  be 
ing  perpetuated. 

The  child,  the  champion,  and  the  representative  of  the 
great  democracy  of  the  United  States,  he  felt  himself 
identified  with  their  interests  and  feelings.  He  was  one 
of  themselves,  and  as  such  had  long  seen  and  felt  the 
oppressions  which  a  great  concentrated  money  power, 
extending  its  influence,  nay,  its  control,  over  the  cur 
rency,  and  consequently  the  prosperity  of  the  country 
throughout  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  land,  had  in 
flicted  or  might  inflict  upon  the  people.  He  saw  in  the 
nature,  and  in  the  acts,  of  this  enormous  monopoly,  an 
evident  tendency,  as  well  as  intention,  to  subjugate  the 
states  and  their  government  to  its  will ;  and  like  himself, 


\fILLIAM      LEGGETT.  287 

and  in  conformity  with  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life,  he  re 
solved  to  risk  his  place,  his  popularity,  his  repose,  in  be 
half  of  the  EQUAL  RIGHTS  of  the  people. 

He  saw,  moreover,  as  every  true  democrat  must  see, 
who  interprets  the  Constitution  upon  its  true  principles, 
that  the  creation  of  a  Bank  with  the  privilege  of  establish 
ing  its  branches  in  every  state,  without  their  consent, 
was  not  delegated  by  the  states  to  the  general  govern 
ment  ;  and  he  saw  that  by  one  of  the  first  declaratory 
amendments  of  the  Constitution,  that  "  The  powers  not 
delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  pro 
hibited  to  it  by  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the  states  respect 
ively,  or  to  the  people." 

But  there  is,  unfortunately,  a  clause  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  which  is  somewhat  of  the  consistency  of  India  rub 
ber,  and  by  proper  application  can  be  stretched  so  as  to 
unite  the  opposite  extremes  of  irreconcileable  contradic 
tions.  It  is  somewhat  like  the  old  gentleman's  will  in  the 
Tale  of  a  Tub,  about  which  Lord  Peter,  Martin  and  Jack 
disputed  so  learnedly,  and  which  at  one  time  was  a  loaf 
of  brown  bread,  at  another  a  shoulder  of  mutton.  It 
admits  of  a  wonderful  latitude  of  construction,  and  an  in 
genious  man  can  find  no  great  difficulty  in  interpreting 
it  to  suit  his  own  particular  interests.  We  allude  to  the 
following,  which  will  be  found  among  the  enumeration  of 
the  powers  of  Congress  : 

"  To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper 
for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and 
all  other  powers  vested  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof." 

The  sticklers  for  state  rights  in  the  Convention  which 
adopted  the  Constitution,  and  in  the  State  Conventions 
to  which  it  was  referred  for  acceptance  or  rejection,  did 
not  much  relish  this  saving  clause.  They  imagined  they 
saw  in  it  a  sort  of  Pandora's  box,  which,  if  once  fairly 


288  POLITICAL     WRITINGS    OF 

opened,  would  cast  forth  a  legion  of  constructive  powers 
and  constructive  usurpations.  They  thought  they  per 
ceived  in  these  two  little  words  "  NECESSARY  AND  PRO- 
PER,"  a  degree  of  elasticity  which  might  be  expanded  so 
as  to  comprehend  almost  any  thing  that  a  majority  of 
Congress  might  choose  to  ascribe  to  them.  They  were, 
in  our  opinion,  not  much  mistaken  in  their  anticipations, 
although  probably  they  scarcely  dreamed  that  the  con 
structive  ingenuity  of  the  times  would  find  that  to  be  in- 
dispensably  "  necessary"  which  the  country  was  enabled 
for  many  years  to  dispense  with,  during  which  time  it 
enjoyed  a  degree  of  prosperity  which  excited  the  envy  and 
admiration  of  the  world  ! 

However  this  may  be,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind,  when  they  hear  General 
Jackson  denounced  as  a  tyrant  and  usurper  for  the  course 
he  has  pursued  in  relation  to  the  Bank,  that  this  institu 
tion  has  no  other  legs  in  the  Constitution  to  stand  upon 
than  those  two  little  words  "  necessary  and  proper."  If 
it  is  necessary  and  proper,  then  it  may  be  re-chartered  un 
der  the  Constitution  ;  but  it  has  no  right  to  demand  a  re- 
charter.  If  it  is  not  necessary  and  proper,  then  it  ought 
never  to  have  been  chartered,  and  ought  not  to  be  con 
tinued  one  moment  longer  than  the  faith  of  the  nation  is 
pledged. 

As  this  is  one  of  those  points  which  rests  on  the  nice 
interpretation  of  words,  it  naturally  depends  for  its  de 
cision  on  the  general  bias  of  the  two  parties  in  the  con 
troversy.  The  party  attached  by  habit,  education,  inter 
ests,  or  prejudice,  to  a  consolidated  or  strong  government, 
will  interpret  "  necessary  and  proper"  one  way,  and  the 
party  opposed  to  any  accumulation  of  constructive  pow 
ers  in  the  federal  government,  will  interpret  them  the 
other  way.  General  Hamilton,  for  example,  considered 
a  Bank  of  the  United  States  "  necessary  and  proper," 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT. 


289 


while  Mr.  Jefferson  believed,  and  has  repeatedly  denoun 
ced  it,  to  be  the  most  dangerous  infraction  of  the  consti 
tution  ever  attempted  under  the  cloak  of  constructive 
power.  Such  has  always  been  the  opinion  of  the  great 
leaders  of  the  democracy  of  the  United  States,  although 
some  of  them  have  yielded  to  the  voice  of  a  majority  of 
Congress,  mistaking  it  for  that  of  the  people. 

We  Wave  premised  thus  much  in  order  to  show  that 
the  course  pursued  by  General  Jackson,  in  regard  to  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  is  in  perfect  consonance  with 
the  known  principles  of  the  democrocy,  the  people  of  the 
United  States.     When  the  Democratic  Party  had  the 
ascendency,  they  took  the  first  opportunity  that  offered 
to  put  an  end  to  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
now  they  avail  themselves  of  a  similar  occasion  to  give  a 
like  demonstration  of  their  settled  principles  and  policy. 
General  Jackson  would  not  have  been  re-elected  by  tha 
party,  against  all  the  corruptions  of  the  Bank,  combined 
with  the  whole  force  of  all  the  disjointed,  incongruous 
elements  of  opposition,  after  he  had  placed  his  Veto  on 
its  re-charter,  had  he  not  acted  in  this  instance  in  strict 
conformity  with  the  sentiments  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
democracy  of  the  United  States.     Here  as  in  every  other 
act  of  his  administration,  they  saw  in  him  the  great  oppo 
nent  of  monopolies,   the  stern,  inflexible    champion  of 
EQUAL  RIGHTS. 

With  regard  to  the  other  alleged  acts  of  despotism 
charged  upon  this  true  unwavering  patriot,  such  as  the 
removal  of  Mr.  Duane  from  office,  and  the  appointment 
of  one  of  the  very  ablest  and  purest  men  of  this  country 
in  his  stead  ;  the  subsequent  removal  of  the  deposites 
from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  the  protest 
against  the  ex-parte  condemnation  of  the  "  Independent 
A-ristocratic  Body,"  more  has  already  been  said  in  his 
defence  than  such  charges  merited.  We  do  not  believe 
VOL.  I 25 


290  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

the  Senators  making  them  believed  one  word  they  them 
selves  uttered  on  the  subject,  because,  though  tainted  to 
the  core  by  personal  antipathies  and  personal  ambition, 
they  are  men  of  too  clear  intellect,  seriously  to  cherish 
such  ideas  of  the  constitution  as  they  have  lately  put 
forth  to  the  people.  These  speeches  and  denunciations, 
like  those  on  the  subject  of  universal  distress  and  bank 
ruptcy,  were  merely  made  for  effect.  They  certainly 
could  not  believe  that  what  the  constitution  expressly 
delegates  was  intended  to  be  withheld  ;  that  what  was 
expressly  conceded  by  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  was  intended  to  be  denied  ;  or  that  the 
exercise  of  a  privilege  inherent  in  human  nature,  to  wit, 
that  of  self-defence,  was  an  outrage  on  the  privileges  of 
the  Senate.  Real  honest  error  may  sometimes  be  com 
bated  successfully  by  argument ;  but  we  know  of  no  way 
of  convincing  a  man  who  only  affects  to  be  in  the  wrong 
in  order  to  deceive  others,  and  shall  therefore  spare  our 
selves  and  our  readers  any  further  discussion  with  oppo 
nents  who  are  not  in  earnest,  but  who  have  so  high  an 
opinion  of  the  sagacity  of  the  people,  that  they  think  they 
can  make  them  believe  what  they  do  not  believe  them 
selves. 

It  will  be  perceived  from  this  brief  analysis  of  the 
leading  measures  of  General  Jackson's  administration, 
that  all  his  "  tyranny"  has  consisted  in  successfully  in 
terposing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  de 
fence  of  the  EQUAL  RIGHTS  of  the  people  ;  and  that  all 
his  "  usurpations"  have  been  confined  to  checking  those 
of  the  advocates  of  consolidation,  disunion,  monopolies, 
and  lastly  a  great  consolidated  moneyed  aristocracy, 
equally  dangerous  to  liberty  from  the  power  it  legally 
possesses,  and  those  it  has  usurped.  Yet  this  is  the  man 
whom  the  usurpers  themselves  denounce  as  a  usurper. 
This  is  the  man  against  whom  the  concentrated  venom 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  291 

of  disappointed  ambition  and  baffled  avarice  is  vainly 
striving  to  contend  in  the  heads  and  hearts  of  the  Ame 
rican  people,  and  to  bury  under  a  mass  of  wilful  calum 
nies.  This  is  the  very  man  whose  whole  soul  is  wound 
up  to  the  great  and  glorious  task  of  restoring  the  EQUAL 
RIGHTS  of  his  fellow-citizens,  as  they  are  guarantied  by 
the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  constitution.  May  Providence 
send  us  a  succession  of  such  USURPERS  as  Andrew  Jack 
son,  and  spare  the  people  from  such  champions  of  liberty 
as  Henry  Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Daniel  Webster, 
George  Poindexter,  and  Nicholas  Biddle  ! 


[From  the  Evening  Post,  May  26,  1835.] 

THE 

AMERICAN  INDEMNITY  BILL  PASSED 
By  the  French  Chambers, 

PRINCIPAL    AND    INTEREST. 

THE  Bill  of  Indemnity  is  at  length  passed,  principal, 
interest,  and  all,  in  exact  compliance  with  the  Treaty  ; 
but  accompanied  with  a  condition,  which,  if  it  be  any 
thing  more  than  mere  French  gasconading,  puts  the  pros 
pect  of  restitution  to  this  country  for  the  outrages  long 
since  committed  on  our  commerce  further  off  than  ever. 
The  President  of  the  United  States,  it  will  be  seen,  is  re 
quired  to  make  an  apology  to  France  for  the  terms  of  his 
last  annual  message,  before  we  can  be  paid  our  just  and 
too  long  deferred  debt !  He  is  to  offer  a  satisfactory  ex 
planation  !  He  is  to  refine  away  all  that  true  republican 
grit  which  it  seems  made  his  communication  to  Congress 
too  rough  for  the  delicate  nerves  of  Frenchmen.  He  is 
to  emasculate  his  proposition  of  reprisals  of  all  its  virulity, 
and  to  go  on  his  kness  and  beg  pardon  for  daring  to  in 
timate  that,  if  further  insulted  by  France  again  refusing 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS     O  ? 

to  perform  her  violated  promise,  it  would  become  the  duty 
of  America  to  take  the  redress  of  her  grievances  into 
her  own  hands,  and  pay  herself  her  admitted  claim. 
This  is  the  ground  on  which  the  French  Government  de 
mands  the  explanation  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  as  the  condition  on  which  she  will  pay  her  too 
long  deferred  debt.  If  General  Jackson  complies  with 
this  condition,  we  have  much  mistaken  the  character 
and  temper  of  that  heroic  man.  And  we  have  much  mis 
taken  the  spirit  of  the  American  people  if  they  would  not 
cast  him  off  from  their  affections  for  so  doing,  deeply  fix 
ed  as  he  is  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  The  very 
proposition  by  France  is  an  additional  insult,  and  com- 
pliance  with  it  would  be  degradation  far  greater,  than 
would  have  been,  a  year  ago,  the  total  remission  of  the 
debt  due  from  that  country. 

But  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  to  apprehend  that 
this  insolent  demand  will  in  any  degree  be  complied 
with.  If  the  President  makes  any  communication  at  all 
on  the  subject,  it  will  be  one  which  France  may  consider 
an  apology  or  explanation,  if  she  pleases,  but  which  will 
receive  a  very  contrary  interpretation  from  all  the  rest  of 
the  world.  The  truth  is  no  explanation  is  expected. 
The  whole  proposition  is  a  mere  last  ineffectual  splutter 
to  turn  attention  from  the  sorry  attitude  in  which  the 
French  Government  has  placed  itself  by  its  bad  faith,  and 
by  lending  a  too  credulous  ear  to  the  representations  of 
M.  Serrurier  and  others,  that  the  United  States  might  be 
fobbed  off,  from  time  to  time,  as  long  as  it  suited  the  plea 
sure  of  France  to  temporise.  The  energetic  message  of 
General  Jackson  rudely  awakened  that  Government 
from  its  delusion.  They  suddenly  found  that  they  were 
dealing  with  an  Administration  which  would  "  ask  no 
thing  that  was  not  clearly  right,  and  submit  to  nothing 
that  was  wrong."  They  saw  that  this  Administration 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT. 

0 

possessed  the  unbounded  confidence  of  a  vast  majority  of 
the  American  people,  and  that  its  noble  rule  of  action  in 
its   foreign  relations  met  with   their  cordial   approval. 
They  saw   that  there  was  a  fixed  determination  on  the 
part  of  this  Government  and  this  people  to  obtain  our  just 
and  acknowledged  debt  from  France,  "  peaceably  if  we 
could,  forcibly  if  we  must."     Seeing  this,  the  tone  of 
France    was  at  once  wonderfully  lowered,  and  the  silly 
measures  of  bravado  that   Government  has  adopted  to 
hide  its  real  sentiments  and  motives  of  action  do  but  add 
to  the  ludicrousness  of  the  unfortunate  posture  in  which 
it  has  placed  itself.     The  United  States  will  get  the  in- 
demnity,  principal  and  interest  in  full,  according  to  the 
Treaty  negotiated   by  Mr.  Rives ;  and  France  will  get 
no  apology — nothing  bearing  even  such  a  remote  resem- 
blance  to  one,  that  it  can  be  palmed  off  upon  the  world  as 
such  by  all  the  vaunting  and  gasconading  of  sputtering 
Frenchmen.     To  such  luckless  straits  a  nation  is  reduc 
ed  that  has  not  sense  enough  of  right  to  redeem  its  faith, 
nor  might  enough  to  maintain  its  perfidy. 

The  Bill  of  Indemnity  it  will  be  seen  was  passed  by  a 
vote  of  289  to  137. 


CORPORATION  PROPERTY. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  June  3,  1835.] 

THE  property    belonging  to  the  corporation  of  this 

city  is  estimated,  in  the  Message  of  the  Mayor  which  we 

had  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  our  readers  a  few  days 

since,  at  ten  millions  of  dollars.     Of  the  property  which 

is  valued  at  this  sum,  a  very  small  portion  is  actually 

required  for  the  purposes  of  government.     A  large  part 

of  it  consists  of  town  lots,  wholly  unproductive.     Another 

part  consists  of  lots  and  tenements  leased  or  rented  for  a 

25* 


294  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

trifling  consideration.  That  part  which  is  in  the  actual 
occupancy  of  the  corporate  authorities  for  public  uses,  is 
comparatively  small,  and  smaller  still  that  part  which  is 
actually  needed  in  the  exercise  of  the  legitimate  func 
tions  of  the  government. 

That  our  municipal  government  should  possess  no  pro 
perty,  except  what  is  really  required  for  the  performance 
of  its  duties,  seems  to  us  so  plain  a  proposition  as  scarcely 
to  require  an  argument  to  support  it.  We  elect  our  city 
authorities  from  year  to  year  to  supervise  the  affairs  of 
the  body  politic,  pass  needful  municipal  regulations,  en. 
force  existing  laws,  and  attend,  generally,  to  the  preser 
vation  of  public  order.  Adequately  to  fulfil  these  trusts, 
a  building  set  apart  for  the  meetings  of  the  city  authori 
ties  is  necessary.  A  place  of  detention  for  the  city  cri 
minals  is  necessary,  and,  under  the  present  system,  a 
place  for  the  city  paupers.  These,  and  a  few  other 
buildings,  occupying  grounds  of  a  suitable  location  and 
extent,  constitute  all  the  real  estate  required  for  the  due 
administration  of  the  functions  of  our  municipal  govern 
ment.  If  our  authorities,  then,  purchase  more  property 
than  this,  they  either  waste  the  money  of  their  constitu 
ents,  or  buying  it  on  credit,  or  paying  for  it  with  bor 
rowed  funds,  they  waste  the  money  of  posterity. 

The  government  of  our  city  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  a  certain  number  of  persons  chosen  from  year  to 
year,  by  the  suffrages  of  a  majority  of  the  citizens,  to 
attend  to  those  affairs  which  belong  to  all  in  common,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  affairs  of  the  community.  They  re 
present  the  aggregate  will  of  the  existing  community  in 
relation  to  those  affairs  ;  and  their  functions,  by  the  very 
tenure  of  their  offices,  are  confined  within  the  circle  of  the 
year.  It  is  plain,  then,  viewing  the  subject  on  principles 
of  abstract  right,  that  a  government  so  constituted,  ought 
do  nothing  which  would  not  be  approved  by  those  from 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT. 

whom  it  derives  its  powers.  The  accumulation  of  unne 
cessary  property,  to  the  amount  of  millions  of  dollars,  can 
never  have  been  intended  by  any  considerable  number  of 
voters  of  this  city,  as  a  duty  which  the  city  government 
ought  to  perform ;  and  having  accumulated  it,  to  retain 
it  seems  equally  averse  to  the  plainest  principles  of  sound 
policy  and  right. 

To  whom  does  this  property  belong  1     Not  to  the  au 
thorities  of  the  city,  surely,  but  to  the  citizens  them- 
selves — to  those  who  chose  those  authorities  to  manage 
their  affairs.     If  it  belongs  to  them,  and  government  is 
not  a  permanent  existence  separate  from  the  will  of  the 
people,  but  the  mere  breath  of  their  nostrils,  their  mere 
representative,  renewed  at  their  pleasure  from  year  to 
year,  it  must  be  obvious  that  there  can  be  no  good  reason 
for  having  that  property  retained  in  the  possession  of  the 
government     It  would  be  much  better  in  the  possession 
of  the  people  themselves,  since  every  body  knows  that  as 
a  general  and  almost  invariable  rule,  men  attend  to  their 
private  affairs  much  better  than  agents  attend  to  their 
delegated  trusts. 

Let  no  reader  be  startled  at  the  idea  we  have  here  put 
forth,  and  suppose  he  sees  in  it  the  ghost  of  agrarianism, 

that  bugbear  which  has;-been  conjured  with  for  ages  to 

frighten  grown-up  children  from  asserting  the  dictates  of 
common  sense  in  relation  to  the  affairs  of  government. 
We  have  no  agrarian  scheme  in  contemplation.  We 
are  not  about  to  propose  a  division  of  public  property, 
either  according  to  the  ratio  of  taxation,  or  equally  by 
the  poll  list,  or  in  any  other  objectionable  mode.  But 
our  citizens  are  every  year  called  upon  to  pay  taxes. 
The  last  legislature  passed  a  law  authorizing  our  corpo 
rate  authorities  to  levy  a  tax  greatly  increased  since  last 
year.  We  have  also  our  public  debt,  for  which  the  pro 
perty  of  our  posterity  is  pledged,  and  this  debt  was  lately 


296  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

swelled  one  million  of  dollars  by  money  borrowed  to  be 
paid  in  1860.  Now  it  strikes  us  as  somewhat  unreason 
able  to  call  upon  the  citizens  to  pay  taxes  to  defray  the 
current  expenses  of  the  government,  and  to  saddle  poste 
rity  with  an  enormous  debt,  when  the  unnecessary  and 
disposable  public  property  now  in  the  hands  of  our  muni 
cipal  government  would  wipe  off  the  whole  amount  of 
the  debt  which  was  contracted  on  the  credit  of  posterity, 
and  defray  the  current  expenses  of  the  city  besides  for 
several  years  to  come. 

We  would  by  no  means  dispose  of  our  City  Hall,  or 
our  Park,  or  our  Battery,  any  more  than  we  would  dispose 
of  Broaaway  or  the  Bowery.  These  are  for  the  public 
use,  for  their  present,  daily,  and  hourly  use,  in  various  re 
spects.  But  in  the  public  property  which  the  Mayor 
estimates  at  an  aggregate  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  there 
will  be  found  much  which  is  not  necessary  for  the  pur 
poses  of  Government  or  the  health  and  convenience  of 
the  people.  All  such  we  would  sell,  and  apply  the  pro 
ceeds  to  the  liquidation  of  the  public  debt,  and  to  the 
payment  of  those  expenses  for  which  taxes  are  now 
assessed.  Let  not  the  argument  be  used  that  this  pro 
perty  will  be  far  more  valuable  in  a  few  years,  and  may 
then  be  disposed  of  to  much  greater  advantage.  If  we 
admit  the  validity  of  this  argument,  it  is  one  which  may 
be  urged  to  postpone  the  sale  for  half  a  century,  and  of 
what  benefit  would  be  the  augmented  amount,  fifty  years 
hence,  to  the  present  people,  to  whom  the  property  in 
truth  belongs?  Society  is  daily,  hourly,  momently, 
changing  its  constituent  individuals.  The  particles 
which  compose  the  stream  of  life  are  continually  passing 
away,  to  be  succeeded  by  other  particles,  and  the  transi 
tion  of  these  human  atoms  is  nowhere  so  rapid  as  in  the 
whirlpool  of  a  great  city.  Many  of  those  whose  votes 
elevated  the  present  municipal  officers  to  their  places, 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  297 

will  never  cast  a  suffrage  again— some  have  gone  to  other 
states,  some  to  distant  lands,  some  to  that  bourne  from 
whence  no  traveller  returns.  But  others  will  push 
into  their  places.  The  social  tide  will  still  rush  on. 
The  young  man  will  pass  his  probationary  period  and 
acquire  the  rights  of  citizenship ;  foreigners  will  be 
adopted  ;  brethren  from  other  portions  of  the  confederacy 
will  take  up  their  abode  among  us.  No  matter,  there- 
fore,  how  rapidly  increasing  in  value  any  portion  of  this 
superfluous  public  property  may  be,  we  who  own  it  now 
and  who  next  year  may  own  it  no  longer,  have  a  right 
to  demand  that  it  should  be  disposed  of  for  our  benefit, 
and  to  liquidate  those  debts  which  we  have  no  right  to 
leave  for  posterity  to  pay. 

But  we  deny  that  there  is  any  validity  in  this  argu- 
ment  founded  on  the  conjectural  or  probable  rise  of  price. 
If  the  property  improves  in  price,  we  ask  whether  is  it 
better  that  the  increase  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
government  or  of  individual  citizens  ?  Should  the  govern, 
ment  continue  to  hold  this  property  for  years,  through 
its  annual  successions,  it  is  at  last  to  be  appropriated  to 
some  public  purpose.  If  the  property  had  been  disposed 
of,  its  increased  value  would  necessarily  have  been  in  the 
hands  of  citizens,  whose  capacity  would  in  the  same 
measure  have  been  increased  to  contribute  to  the  public 
expenses.  The  property  of  the  citizens  is  at  all  times 
abundantly  able  to  sustain  any  legitimate  expenses  of 
government,  and  all  property,  not  required  for  such  pur- 
poses,  should  remain  in  the  people's  own  hands. 

There  is  one  species  of  public  property  to  which  we 
have  not  adverted  in  this  article,  because  it  does  not  pro- 
bably  enter  into  the  Mayor's  estimate,  but  which  we 
could  well  wish  were  also  disposed  of  by  the  public  au 
thorities,  and  suffered  to  go  into  the  hands  of  private 
citizens.  We  allude  to  the  wharves,  piers  and  public 


298 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OP 


docks,  with  the  exception  of  the  slips  at  the  end  of  streets. 
Those  in  our  view  ought  to  be  as  free  as  the  streets 
themselves,  and  the  rest  ought  to  be  left  in  private  hands. 
We  cannot  undertake  to  argue  this  subject  to-day  ;  but 
let  those  who  are  disposed  to  differ  from  us,  reflect  that 
we  onjy  propose  to  put  the  wharves  on  the  same  footing 
with  houses  and  stores,  and  that  the  same  competition, 
the  same  laws  of  supply  and  demand,  which  regulate  the 
rent  of  the  one  description  of  property,  would  equally  re 
gulate  the  wharfage  of  the  other. 


APOLOGY  TO  FRANCE. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  June  16, 1835.] 
WE  copy  with  exceeding  pleasure  the  following  patri 
otic  remarks  on  the  French  question  from  the  Pennsyl- 
vanian.  They  are  of  a  similar  tenor  with  those  which 
we  copied  on  Saturday  from  the  Gloucester  Democrat. 
It  gives  us  great  satisfaction  to  perceive  that  the  sound 
democratic  journals  throughout  the  country  are  taking, 
as  with  one  mind,  the  true  American  view  of  this  subject. 
For  our  own  part  we  say,  MILLIONS  FOR  DEFENCE,  BUT 

NOT  ONE  WORD  IN  EXPLANATION. 

If  Mr.  Livingston,  as  we  do  not  doubt,  left  instructions 
with  Mr.  Barton,  the  American  Charge  d'  Affaires  in 
Paris,  to  follow  him  immediately  to  the  United  States, 
in  the  event  of  the  bill  of  indemnity  being  passed  by  the 
Chamber  of  Peers  as  sent  to  that  branch  of  the  French 
legislature  by  the  other  Chamber,  he  acted,  in  our  view, 
as  became  the  representative  of  this  Government,  and  es 
tablished  an  additional  claim  to  the  respect  of  his  coun 
trymen.  We  do  not  see  how,  among  men  who  have  a 
sincere  regard  for  the  honour  and  dignity  of  their  coun 
try,  there  can  be  any  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  ques- 


WILLIAM     LKGGETT.  299 

tion  of  the  demanded  explanation.  If  the  bill  should 
finally  become  a  law,  the  very  demand  is  an  insult  to  us, 
of  a  far  more  aggravated  character  than  the  pecuniary 
wrong  of  which  we  before  complained.  We  before  de- 
manded  payment  of  a  debt  withheld  from  us  by  a  simple 
refusal  to  perform  a  treaty.  The  payment  was  then 
withheld  on  the  ground  that  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
French  Government  did  not  consider  the  amount  claim- 
ed  to  be  due,  and  maintained  that  the  treaty  was  not 
binding  until  it  should  have  received  their  sanction.  But 
by  the  present  law  the  amount  claimed  is  acknowledged 
to  be  due  to  us  ;  yet  compliance  with  the  treaty  is  posi 
tively  forbidden  unless  the  American  Government  shall 
in  the  first  place  make  satisfactory  explanations  to  heal 
the  wounded  honour  of  France.  To  state  this  in  equiva 
lent  but  briefer  phrase,  France  refuses  to  pay  us  our 
debt,  unless  we  in  the  first  place  beg  her  pardon  for  hav 
ing  dared  to  demand  it. 

It  does  not  affect  the  question  in  the  slightest  degree, 
according  to  our  judgment,  to  say  that  this  explanation 
is  a  mere  matter  of  form  which  two  diplomatic  agents 
may  arrange  in  a  friendly  interview,  and  without  the 
slightest  difficulty.  If  it  is  reduced  to  a  mere  form,  it  is 
etill  a  form  degrading  to  us.  If  the  explanation  shall  be 
acknowledged  to  lie  in  the  bow  with  which  the  represen 
tative  of  the  American  Government  salutes  the  French 
Minister  on  entering  his  apartment,  or  in  his  shake  of 
the  hand  ;  if  it  is  recognised  in  any  act,  word,  or  look,  it 
is  a  compliance  nevertheless  with  an  insolent  law — it  is 
losing  sight  of  our  own  honour  to  appease  the  wounded 
pride  of  vain-glorious  France.  Never  be  it  said  in  our 
history,  that  to  obtain  the  paltry  sum  of  five  millions  of 
dollars,  we  consented  to  any  stipulations  inconsistent 
with  the  dignity  of  a  nation  of  freemen. 

We  have  seen  with  lively  regret,  that  some  papers 


300  POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OP 

which  profess  to  be  democratic,  take  a  contrary  view  of 
this  subject,  and  urge  the  propriety  of  some  explanation 
being  made  by  the  President  to  soothe  the  ruffled  feelings 
of  France,  or  in  other  words  to  coax  the  Frenchmen  into 
good  humour.     The  Albany  Argus,  followed  as  usual  by 
its  "gentle  echo,"  but  in  fainter  sounds  of  response  than 
heretofore,  seems  to  think  that  General  Jackson  might 
comply  with  the  demand  of  France,  by  assuring  her, 
either  by  the  repetition  of  a  passage  of  his  last  Message,  or 
by-  words  of  equivalent  import,  that  no  threat  or  menace 
was  intended.     It  would  be  the  first  instance  in  our  na 
tional  experience  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  great 
country  having  complied  with  the  demand  of  a  foreign 
Government   to  make  any  explanation  of  any  message, 
which,  in  his  Executive  capacity,  he  had  seen  proper  to 
communicate  to  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  federal  Gov 
ernment.     We  fear  it  would  not   be  the  last.     We  fear 
we  should  be  doomed  to  hear  many  iterations  of  the  same 
insulting  demand.     "  What  do  you  mean  by  this,  sir  1 " 
and  "  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  sir  ?  "   would  be  inter 
rogatories  to  which,  under  the  penalty  of  war,  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  would  have  to  stand  ever  ready 
to  answer.     To  avoid  such  a  disagreeable  liability,  in- 
stead  of  free,  ingenuous,  and  unreserved  communications 
from  the  head  of  our  Government  to  the  national  legisla 
ture,  in  which  all  subjects  ofrgeneral  interest  are  frankly 
and  fully  discussed,  and  the  opinions  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  candidly  stated,  we  should  soon  see  short,  vague, 
unsatisfactory  addresses,  like  those  of  the  King  of  Engr 
land  to  Parliament,  in  which  the  few  words  that  are  em 
ployed  seem  used  rather  to  conceal  than  express  the  wri 
ter's  meaning. 

We  may  be  wrong  in  the  view  we  take  of  this  subject, 
and  if  we  are,  we  are  very  wrong,  since  it  seems  to  us 
the  question  does  not  admit  of  doubt.  It  seems  to  us  that 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT. 

France  has  no  right  to  ask,  much  less  demand,  an  expla 
nation  of  the  message,  since  it  is  a  mere  expression  of 
the  views  of  one  branch  of  the  Government  to  another, 
and  not  an  act  or  expression  of  the  Government  at  all. 
It  seems  to  as  that  she  has  no  need  of  an  explanation, 
since  the  message,  so  far  from  being  obscure,  was  so  plain 
that  he  who  runs  might  read  it,  and  was  as  decorous  and 
temperate,  in  all  that  related  to  France,  as  any  document 
which  ever  recounted  the  wrongs  which  one  nation  had 
experienced  from  another,  or  proposed  any  mode  of  final 
redress.  If  we  consider  the  case  as  between  individuals 
under  analogous  circumstances,  we  shall  clearly  see  the 
gross  impropriety  of  yielding  submission  to  the  law  of 
France,  and  entering  into  degrading  explanations,  in  or- 
der  that  it  may  please  his  High  Mightiness,  the  King  of 
the  French,  to  pay  his  debts.  Let  our  readers  suppose 
that  a  subscriber  of  this  journal  had  put  off  our  collector 
for  twenty  years  by  various  excuses  and  evasions  ;  that 
he  had  then  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  to  pay  us 
our  money  by  a  given  time  ;  had  subsequently  violated 
that  obligation,  and  after  several  additional  delays,  again 
agreed  to  pay  it,  but  only  on  condition  that  we  should 
first  appease  his  wounded  honour  by  making  a  satisfac 
tory  explanation — let  our  readers  suppose  such  a  case, 
and  each  answer  for  himself  what  ought  to  be  our  reply. 
To  make  the  case  more  analogous,  it  should  be  supposed 
that  the  debt,  in  this  instance,  had  not  been  incurred  by 
the  mere  accumulation  of  subscription  dues,  but  had  been 
created  originally  by  a  forcible  entry  into  our  office,  and 
a  wanton  destruction  or  seizure  of  our  property. 

With  the  Pennsylvanian,  we  entertain  the  utmost  con 
fidence  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  will  act 
in  the  matter  now  about  to  come  before  him  in  the  same 
spirit  of  lofty  patriotism  and  independence  which  has 
distinguished  him  all  his  life  long,  and  most  conspicu- 
VOL.  I.— 26 


302  POLITICAL      WRITINGS      OF 

ously  and  gloriously  in  his  illustrious  administration  of 
the  American  Government.  We  entertain  no  single 
misgiving  of  fear  that  he  will  ever  do  an  act  to  sully  the 
bright  page  which  he  has  written  in  our  country's  his 
tory.  Age  has  not  chilled  his  spirit,  nor  abated  one  jot 
the  ardour  of  his  patriotism.  The  honour  of  this  people 
in  his  hands  is  safe,  and  will  not  be  surrendered  to  the 
audacious  demand  of  France. 

We  have  hopes,  we  confess,  that  the  French  Govern- 
ment  will  before  this  have  come  to  their  senses,  and  ex- 
punged  the  insolent  condition  from  their  law.  Should  it 
be  otherwise,  however,  much  as  we  should  regret  hostile 
measures  on  many  accounts,  there  are  paramount  reasons 
why  we  should  desire  to  see  them  promptly  resorted  to. 
For  our  own  part,  we  could  wish  that  war,  immediate 
war,  might  be  the  alternative.  We  trust  that  we  have 
not  been  vainly  boasting  all  this  while,  that  while  we 
would  ask  nothing  not  clearly  right,  we  would  submit  to 
nothing  that  is  wrong.  We  trust  there  is  spirit  enough  in 
the  country  yet  to  maintain  our  character,  at  whatever 
expense  of  treasure  or  of  blood.  Our  fathers  went  to  war 
for  a  threepenny  tax  on  tea.  Their  sons  have  suffered 
a  worse  wrong.  They  have  been  smitten  on  the  right 
cheek  :  will  they  turn  the  left  also  ? 


OUT  OF  DEBT. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  June  20,  1835.] 
IT  is  the  peculiar  boast  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  that  the  nation  is  now  out  of  debt.  We  hear  it 
repeated  every  day  with  an  exultation  which  would  be 
just,  if  the  boast  were  true.  But  as  it  is  not  true,  it  may 
be  worth  while  to  apprise  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  real 
state  of  the  case.  The  People  of  the  United  States  are 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT. 

not  out   of  debt,  and  never  will  be,  while  the  present 
system  of  banking  and  borrowing  continues  to  subsist. 

The  General  Government  it  is  certain  owes  nothing. 
Thanks  to  the  policy  of  General  Jackson,  it  has  redeeme 
all  its  obligations.     But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  States 
individually  ?     Are  they  out  of  debt  ?     On  the  contrary, 
are  they  not,  almost  without  exception,  every  day  plung 
ing  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  bottomless  pit  of  unre 
deemed  and  irredeemable  obligation  f     Some  are  borrow 
ing  millions  for  public  improvements;    others  pledging 
the  credit  of  the  States,  or  in  other  words  the  property  o 
the  citizens,  for  millions  ;    and  others  are  becoming  si 
scribers  to  banks,  and  canals,  and  railroads,  to  the  amount 
of  millions  more.      Under  this  system,  the  individual 
States  at  this  moment  owe  more  money   than  did  I 
United  States,  at  the  close  of  either  of  the  wars  of  Inde 
pendence.     Yet  we  boast  of  being  out  of  debt ! 
'    Who  pay  the  piper  for  all  this  political  and  speculating 
dancing  ?     Who  pay  the  interest  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brow,  and  who  must  pay  the  principal,  by  the  sweat  of 
their  brow,  or  transmit  the  everlasting  burden  from  the 
backs  of  one  generation  to  another]   The  same  people  who 
boast  of  being  out  of  debt.      What  difference,  we  would 
ask  is  there  between  the  debts  we  owe  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  citizens  of  a  State  ?      Must  we  not 
equally  labour  and  sweat  under  their  weight  T     Must  we 
not  pay  them  at  once,  or  we  and  our  posterity  pay  them 
ten  times  over  in  interest  ?      Unquestionably.      Yet 
all  this,  faster,  ten  times  faster,  are  the  legislatures  of  the 
states  plunging  the  people  overhead  and  ears  m  dobt, 
than  the  Federal  Government  is  relieving  them 
their  burdens.     There  is  not  a  legislative  session  held  in 
any  state  of  the  Union  in  which  some  new  debt  is  not 
contracted,  some  new  weight  laid  on  the  backs  of  the 
people  and  their  posterity.      The  latter  unhappily  can 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

say  nothing  against  all  this  ;  but  we  will  tell  the  former, 
that  if  they  do  not  say  something  to  the  purpose,  and  say 
it  soon,  never  poor  ass,  not  even  the  ass  of  all  asses,  old 
England,  was  so  laden  with  wealth,  the  burden  of  which 
he  bears  without  sharing  in  the  spoils,  as  will  be  the  la- 
bouring  classes  of  this  country.  Instead  of  leaving  free- 
dom  and  competency  to  their  posterity,  they  will  leave 
them  nothing  but  their  debts  to  pay,  and  receive  in  re 
turn  nothing  but  curses. 

But  the  debts  created  by  loans  for  public  improvements 
and  pledges  of  state  credit,  are  not  the  only  blessings  to 
be  conferred  on  posterity.      There  are  in  the  United 
States  upwards  of  six  hundred  Banks  at  this  moment 
with  an  issue  of  paper  probably  amounting  to  two  hundred 
millions  of  paper  money.      Who  pays  the  piper  for  this 
mode  of  dancing?     Who  pays  the  expenses  of  banking 
houses,  salaries  of  officers  and  other  contingencies  ?  Who 
paid  a  million  and  a  half  for  the  marble  palace  in  which 
the  great  paper  Mammon  is  worshipped  in  Philadelphia  ? 
And  who  will  be  obliged  to  pay  all  these  through  all  time 
to  come,  so  long  as  they  exist  and  crush  us  to  the  earth  ? 
The  people  ;    the  labouring  classes  of  the  United  States, 
and  their  foredoomed  posterity. 

Let  us  go  on.  Who  has  paid  the  penalty  of  all  the 
millions  which  the  failure  of  hundreds  of  paper  banks  left 
unredeemed  ?  The  people ;  the  labouring  classes  of  these 
United  States.  And  who  is  now  actually  responsible 
for  the  two  hundred  millions  of  paper  money  now  circula, 
ting  in  every  house,  and  from  hand  to  hand  in  every  nook 
and  corner  of  the  land  ?  Out  of  whose  pockets,  out  of 
the  sweat  of  whose  brow,  come  the  dividends  of  these 
banks;  and  whence  will  be  derived  the  means  of  re, 
deeming  these  two  hundred  millions,  if  they  are  ever 
redeemed  ?  From  the  pockets  of  the  people ;  from  the 
sweat  of  the  labouring  classes.  And  who  will  pay  both 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT, 


305 


interest  and  principal  of  these  enormous  issues  of  paper 
money,  resting  on  paper  promises  ?  We  answer  again, 
the  labouring  classes  of  the  United  States.  If  this  pa- 
per  is  ever  redeemed  it  must  be  by  the  profits  of  these 
institutions  squeezed  out  of  the  People  ;  a-nd  if  it  is  not, 
the  same  People  must  pay  the  penalty,  by  losing  the 
whole  amount  in  circulation.  It  will  die  on  their  hands. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen,  as  clear  as  the  light  of  day,  that 
these  two  hundred  millions  of  paper  money  operate  as 
actual  debts  on  the  People  of  the  United  States.  They 
pay  the  interest,  and  they  must  redeem  the  principal,  if 
it  is  ever  redeemed.  Happy  people  !  to  be  so  out  of 
debt,  and  thrice  happy  posterity  to  inherit  so  many  bless- 
ings  ! 


EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  June  23,  1835.] 
THE  Constitution  has  at  length  arrived.     We  bid  Mr. 
LIVINGSTON  welcome  back  to  that  country,  whose  honour 
he  has  shown  himself  so  ready  and  so  able  to  maintain 
abroad.      The    attention   of  this  community  has   been 
earnestly  fixed  upon  Mr.  Livingston  through  the  whole 
course  of  the  difficult  and  unpleasant  controversy  with 
France  ;   and  the  regard  before  entertained  for  him,  as  a 
worthy  son  of  New- York,  as  a  man  whose  distinguished 
talents  had  always  been  exerted  to  advance  the  great 
principles  of  democratic  government,  and  whose  whole 
life  indeed  had  been  passed  in  the  discharge  of  various 
important  public  trusts,  has  been  increased  and  strength* 
ened  by  the  firm  yet  moderate,  and  dignified  yet  concilia 
tory  manner  in  which  he  has  conducted  himself  through 
the  responsible  and  delicate  circumstances  in  which  ho 
has  been  placed. 
25* 


POLITICAL     WRITINGS      OP 

Mr.  Livingston  seems  truly  to  have  adopted,  as  his 
rule  of  action,  the  noble  sentiment  of  General  Jackson, 
to  ask  nothing  that  is  not  clearly  right,  and  submit  to 
nothing  that  is  wrong.  He  seems  to  have  borne  con 
stantly  in  mind,  too,  that  he  was  the  representative  of 
his  country,  and  to  have  merged,  on  more  than  one 
irritating  occasion,  the  feelings  of  the  man  in  those  which 
were  proper  to  the  nation.  We  have  hence  beheld  him 
acting  with  the  most  temperate  and  lofty  forbearance,  in 
circumstances  which  were  calculated  to  stir  ordinary 
minds  to  violence,  and  by  which  there  are  few  men,  even 
of  deliberate  judgment,  who  would  not  have  been  urged 
into  some  hasty  measure  or  expression  of  asperity.  But 
Mr.  Livingston  kept  his  eyes  steadily  fixed  on  the  real 
interest  and  dignity  of  his  country,  determined  not  to 
sacrifice,  under  the  influence  of  any  private  motive,  or  by 
yielding  to  any  natural  suggestion  of  personal  resent- 
ment,  the  slightest  portion  of  that  weight  which  the 
American  cause  possesses,  as  well  by  the  moderation  and 
calmness  with  which  it  has  been  urged  through  every 
stage  of  the  protracted  negotiation,  as  by  the  intrinsic 
justice  of  the  original  claim. 

We  are  sure  that  we  but  speak  the  universal  senti 
ment  of  the  democracy  of  this  community  and  of  the 
country,  when  we  express  the  warmest  approbation  of 
the  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Livingston,  while  the  minister 
of  the  American  Government  in  France.  He  may  rest 
assured  that  his  countrymen  have  fully  appreciated  the 
embarrassing  circumstances  in  which  he  has  been  placed ; 
that  they  have  keenly  felt  the  sa  rcasms  and  contul 
melious  expressions  which  were  aimed  at  him  ;  and  have 
admired  the  equanimity  with  which  he  withstood  the  petty 
malice  of  gasconading  assailants,  whose  dearest  object 
would  have  been  achieved,  could  they  have  disturbed 
that  evenness  and  dignity  which  made  their  own  vehe- 


WILLIAM      LEGGETT. 


307 


mence  and  bravado  so  contemptible  in  the  sight  of  na 
tions. 

That  the  sentiments  we  have  here  expressed  are  enter 
tained  by  the  democracy  of  this  metropolis  we  have  good 
reason  to  know,  and  suitable  measures  were  already  on 
foot,  before  the  Constitution  arrived,  to  testify  to  Mr. 
Livingston,  in  an  unequivocal  manner,  the  respect  and 
entire  approbation  which  his  conduct  abroad  has  created. 
New-York,  though  the  commercial  centre  of  this  great 
empire,  and  having   consequently   a  deep  stake   in  the 
preservation  of  amity  with  foreign  nations,  will  be  prompt 
to  support  the  administration  in  any  step  proper  to  assert 
the  honour  of  the  country.       New-York  insists  upon  a 
strict,  unconditional  fulfilment  of  the  French  treaty,  at 
all  hazards,  and  will  never  consent  that  the  Republic 
shall  be  degraded,  through  its  Chief  Magistrate,  by  yield- 
ing  any  explanations  in  compliance  with  the  insolent  de 
mand  of  France. 

The  elevated  and  firm,  yet  calm  and  assuasive  conduct 
of  Mr.  Livingston  at  the  French  Court,  with  whatever 
satisfaction  it  has  been  viewed  by  our  fellow-citizens, 
yet  adds  but  one  claim  to  the  many  he  before  possessed 
on  their  liveliest  regard.     A  native  of  the  Empire  State  ; 
a  man  whose  talents,  from  an  early  period  of  his  life  for 
a  long  series  of  years,  were  constantly  exerted  to  promote 
the  best  interest  of  this  community  ;    who  has  served  it, 
and  served  it  faithfully,  in  various  official  capacities  ; 
who  has  presided  over  this  metropolis  as  its  chief  magis 
trate,  and  represented  it  in  Congress  :   such  a  man,  re 
turning  to  his  birth-place  from  a  foreign  mission,  which 
has  been  embarrassed  with  unusual  difficulties,  and  con 
ducted  with  unusual  ability  and  dignity,  has  an  irresisti 
ble  title  to  the  most  cordial  reception. 

The  names  of  few  men  are  recorded  in  our  history 
whose  lives  have  been  of  more  real  service  to  the  re- 


POLITICAL      WRITINGS     OF 

public  than  that  of  Mr.  Livingston.     Identified  from  his 
youth  upward  with  the  party  which  professes  the  politi 
cal  principles  of  Jefferson,  the  whole  tenor  of  his  public 
conduct  has  been  to  illustrate  and  advance  those  princi 
ples.     Early  selected  to  represent  this  city  in  Congress, 
he  was  one  of  the  sturdiest  and  ablest  advocates  of  the 
doctrine  of  democratic  equality,  at  a  time  when  the  oppo 
site  opinions  were  upheld  by  the  most  formidable  array 
of  talent  which  has  ever  contended,  in  this  country,  under 
the  banner  of  aristocracy.     The  learning  of  Mr.  Livings 
ton,  the   force  of  his  eloquence,  and  the  comprehensive 
reach  and  unanswerable  cogency  of  his  writings,  did 
much  to  accomplish  the  ultimate  triumph  of  democratic 
principles,  a  result  so  auspicious  to  the  cause  of  equal 
freedom.     His  patriotic  efforts  did  not  stop  here  ;  but  in 
the  legislature  of  his  adopted  state,  and  in  the  celebrated 
"  Code,"  for  which  she  is  indebted  to  the  vast  erudition, 
vigorous  intellect,  sound  judgment,  and  fervent  patriot 
ism  of  that  distinguished  man,  he  still  exerted  all  his  pow 
ers  to  promote  the  happiness  of  his  countrymen  and  erect 
a  strong  foundation   for   their  rights.     In   consonance 
with  his  whole  career  has  been  the  course  of  Mr.  Livings 
ton  as  the  diplomatic  representative  of  his  Government 
in  France.     After  experiencing  the  contumelies  of  inso 
lent  Frenchmen  for  calmly  but  strenuously  asserting  the 
rights  and  honour  of  his  country,  he  is  once  more  among 
us,  on  that  soil  where  he  drew  his  first  breath,  and  among 
that  people  for  whom  he  exerted  his  earliest  efforts.     It 
is  for  his  countrymen  to  say  what  shall  be  his  reception. 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT. 


THE  O'CONNELL  GUARDS. 

[From  the  Evening  Post,  June  25, 1835.] 
THE  incendiary  papers  continue  their  efforts  to  inflame 
the  minds  of  such  native  citizens  as  they  can  influence 
against  our  citizens  of  Irish  birth  : 

"  THE  O'CONNELL  GUARDS.— No  greater  insult  was 
ever  offered  the  American  People  than  the  arrangements 
now  being  made  for  raising  in  this  city  an  Irish  regiment 
to  be  called  the  <  O'C&nnell  Guards.1  Such  a  corps 
would  soon  attempt  to  enforce  with  the  bayonet  what  too 
many  of  the  misguided  and  ignorant  of  the  foreign  voters 
already  boast  of— the  complete  subjection  of  the  Native 
citizens  to  their  dictation.  We  know  Governor  Marcy 
too  well  to  believe  it  possible  that  he  will  sanction  such 
an  outrage  upon  society,  notwithstanding  its  being  got 
up  under  the  auspices  of  that  creature  CAMBRELENG  and 
his  associates  ;  and  trust  this  infamous  proceeding  is  des 
tined  to  recoil  upon  the  unprincipled  Party  which  origin 
ated  it." 

The  first  observation  we  have  to  make  is  to  repeat,  in 
the  most  earnest  manner,  the  hope  we  have  heretofore 
expressed  that  our  fellow-citizens  of  Irish  birth  will  con- 
tinue  to  exhibit,  in  the  trying  circumstances  in  which 
they  are  placed,  that  moderation  and  forbearance  which 
distinguished  their  conduct  when  they  were  made  the 
object  of  mob  assaults  in  the  spring  of  1834,  and  which 
has  no  less  distinguished  them  in  the  recent  disorders. 
Could  they  be  excited,  by  the  inflammatory  paragraphs 
of  those  prints  which  are  endeavouring  to  array  the  com- 


310  POLITICAL     WRITINGS     OF 

munity  against  them,  to  commit  any  act  of  violence — to 
become  the  aggressors  in  any  tumultuary  movement — a 
leading  object  of  their  unprincipled  opponents  would  be 
accomplished ,  and  that  single  retaliatory  act  would  be 
used  against  them  with  all  the  zeal  and  industry  of  the 
most  bitter  political  hatred.  Should  they  continue,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  rely  upon  the  civil  authorities  for  pro 
tection  in  their  rights,  the  inflammatory  arts  of  their  op 
ponents  must  react  upon  themselves.  It  is  not  possible 
that  any  considerable  number  of  citizens  can  long  be 
misled  by  the  wicked  efforts  of  those  unprincipled  news 
papers  which,  by  the  most  unfounded  calumnies,  and  the 
most  inflammatory  appeals  to  the  worst  passions  of  their 
readers,  have  provoked  this  temporary  ebullition  of  pop 
ular  feeling  against  the  Irish. 

With  regard  to  the  pretended  "  insult  offered  to  the 
American  people"  in  the  proposition  to  raise  a  regiment 
under  the  title  of  the  O'Connell  Guards,  let  any  American 
citizen,  of  whatever  lineage,  examine  the  subject  dis 
passionately  for  a  moment,  and  he  will  plainly  see  that 
the  only  insult  offered  to  the  community  lies  in  the  con 
duct  of  the  prints  which  have  opposed  the  formation  of 
this  regiment,  not  in  that  of  the  authors  of  the  undertak 
ing.  Our  institutions  must  be  frail  or  rotten  indeed,  if 
they  stand  in  any  danger  from  a  militia  regiment  com 
posed  of  citizens,  no  matter  from  what  country  they  may 
have  sprung.  A  truly  intelligent  mind  can  entertain  no 
apprehensions  of  any  undue  or  untoward  influence  be 
ing  exercised  in  this  country  by  those  who  have  come 
among  us  from  foreign  nations.  Emigrants  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe,  landing  upon  our  shores,  are  assimi 
lated  by  the  principles  of  liberty,  and  form  a  part  of  one 
harmonious  people,  all  equally  interested  in  the  preserva 
tion  of  those  institutions,  which,  like  the  dews  of  heaven, 
shed  equal  benefits  upon  all.  If  it  is  a  quality  inherent 


WILLIAM     LEGGETT.  811 

in  the  very  nature  of  a  free  government  thus  to  incline 
all  hearts  in  its  favour,  with  what  double  cordiality  and  de- 
votedness  must  the  Irish  emigrant  feel  enlisted  in  its 
support,  with  whom  a  love  for  liberty  has  been  the  main 
principle  of  action  from  the  cradle,  and  to  escape  from 
political  oppression  his  sole  motive  in  abandoning  the 
land  of  his  birth,  and  making  this  the  land  of  his  adop 
tion.  The  bayonets  of  Irish  citizens  will  never  be  raised 
against  the  breasts  of  native  Americans,  unless,  indeed, 
political  fanaticism  and  persecution — shall  have  recourse 
to  arms  to  effect  their  unhallowed  purposes,  and  render 
an  armed  defence  necessary. 

It  will  be  well  for  our  citizens,  when  they  read  the  ar 
ticles  intended  to  excite  in  their  minds  feelings  of  jea 
lousy  and  unkindness  towards  the  Irish,  to  remember  that 
there  is  no  portion  of  our  society  more  devotedly  attach 
ed  to  the  principles  of  human  liberty  than  those  against 
whom  it  is  now  sought  to  direct  popular  hostility.  In 
deed,  the  true  and  only  motive  of  these  attempts  lies  in 
this  very  circumstance.  Had  a  majority  of  the  Irish 
citizens  supported  the  United  States  Bank  in  its  auda 
cious  war  upon  the  Government  and  the  rights  of  the  peo 
ple,  the  minions  of  the  Bank,  the  purchased  slaves  who 
conduct  the  Courier  and  the  Star,  would  never  have 
sought  to  stir  up  the  popular  enmity  against  them,  and 
make  them  the  victims  of  riot  and  violence. 

That  Mr.  Cambreleng  has  had  any  thing  to  do,  direct 
ly  or  indirectly,  with  the  proposed  regiment  of  O'Connell 
Guards,  is  wholly  untrue  —  a  malicious  fabrication  of  a 
print  destitute  of  the  principle  of  truth  and  of  every  sen 
timent  of  honour.  If  it  were  otherwise,  however,  we  do 
not  know  that  he  would  be  particularly  obnoxious  to  cen 
sure  ;  for  we  have  not  forgotten  that  a  regiment  of  Irish 
citizens,  under  the  title  of  "  the  Irish  Greens,"  long  exist 
ed  in  this  city,  were  noted  for  the  excellence  of  their  dis- 


312  POLITICAL    WRITINGS      OP 

cipline,  and  the  propriety  of  their  conduct,  and  when  the 
war  with  Great  Britain  broke  out,  volunteered  their  ser 
vices  to  go  upon  the  frontier,  and  demeaned  themselves 
with  the  most  distinguished  gallantry,  and  the  most  ar 
dent  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  their  adopted  coun 
try. 


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